OF INSECTS. 
201 
the wings, &c. The next step in the process of sub- 
division is commonly to families , which consist of a 
group of genera agreeing in certain general characters. 
Subordinate to this is the group termed a genus, com- 
prehending species conformable to each other in all 
essential parts and organs. The species is the lowest 
gradation of all, unless a variety be taken into ac- 
count ; the former has been well defined as a natural 
object, whose differences, from those most nearly re- 
lated to it, had their origin when it came from the 
hands of the Creator, while those that characterise 
the latter have been produced since that event. Other 
groups, besides these, are occasionally adopted by sys- 
tematists, but as scarcely two ever use them in pre- 
cisely the same acceptation, their value and import 
must be learned from the definition each particular 
author assigns to them. 
Order I. — Coleoptera. 
We must refer to the volume on Coleoptera (Beetles), for 
a full account of the peculiarities as well as the history 
and representation of many of the most remarkable 
species of this important order; and wo shall here 
content ourselves with giving such a brief notice of its 
more prominent features, with a few supplementary 
details, as will lead to a right understanding of the 
method of division here followed, and prepare for a 
more lengthened exposition of the following orders: — 
