ON THE CETONIIDiE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
5 
entomological science, is impatience. It is impatience which makes them dislike the study 
of affinities, which makes them delight in the grovelling task of making insulated descriptions 
of new species, and idly fancy that harmony does not exist in the creation, because, forsooth, 
they cannot immediately and intuitively perceive it. To this branch of natural history, indeed, 
there is no royal road. 
In order to exhibit the vagueness which hangs about the expressions — families, 
genera, and sub-genera, I cannot do better than cite from one of our late periodicals, the 
following words of an author: “These families which M. Wesmael has since raised to sub- 
genera, but which I consider of full generic value,” &c. Here, the dispute obviously is, 
whether a certain groupe be a family, a genus, or a sub-genus ; and the first question that 
presents itself to the mind is, what was the writer’s particular standard ? He certainly seems 
to have had some vague standard in his mind, for he talks of “ full generic value.” But 
has this value ever been accurately defined, either by himself, or any one else ? Nay, has 
the word genus any signification which is universally deemed definite ? I fear in all sucli cases 
of assertion, there is a latent disposition of the human mind to erect an arbitrary standard, 
founded on the supposed value of some point of structure. Thus one person says that the 
genera of Mammalia ought to be established on the differences in their system of dentition ; 
and yet there are some genera of Mammalia where almost every species varies in the number 
and form of its teeth ; so that to adopt the rule, we must consider every species of such genera 
to be a genus itself. Another person will tell us, like Linneus, that there are as many genera, 
as aggregations of different species present similar constructions of some arbitrarily selected 
organs, such as those of fructification in phaenogamous plants, or the teeth in Mammalia. In 
this sense it is evident that a genus may be made to signify any groupe whatever; as its 
extent will depend on the nature of the structure selected. The black and yellow Cetonice of 
South Africa will even form a genus, according to the Linnean definition of the word ; and so 
also will all vertebrated animals. Cuvier’s definition of a genus is, that it is a certain number 
of beings so nearly allied, that they differ from each other only in the least important points of 
their conformation— that is, specifically. A genus is, in fact, according to this naturalist, the 
smallest natural groupe of species we can find. Such indeed is the idea of a genus which 
prevails in the minds of most naturalists. We see every little groupe of species for which they 
can discover a character, immediately dubbed a genus ; the absurdity of which is, that we 
often find these very same persons again sub-dividing their “ genera,” although, according to 
their own definition, the groupes were already in rank only immediately above species. Even 
Cuvier himself calls Sus a genus, or, in other words, according to his definition, a collection 
of beings that only specifically differ from each other. Yet, inconsistently enough, he 
proceeds to name and characterize a part of Sus under the name of JDicotyle, as a still smaller 
groupe of species, and repeatedly makes mention of sub-genera. 
Let me be understood on this head. I do not object to giving the name of genera to 
sub-genera, nor that of sub-genera to sub-sections. The word genus may be applied as by 
Linneus to mark out all Petalocerous insects, or as by M. Dejean to designate only the 
Dorysceles of Madagascar. To either proceeding I have not the slightest objection; if we 
only understand each other, and that the svord genus is to have a similar value in all cases. 
It is not to be defined the smallest possible groupe of species here, and in another place 
considered as a groupe which contains many other groupes of species. This cannot be a 
correct mode of using the word; although it may, from our ignorance of created species, 
