6 
BEITISH APHIDES. 
HISTORY OF BRITISH APHIDES. 
This may be conveniently arranged under the fol- 
lowing heads — - 
1st. A Terminology which includes the general 
anatomy. 
2nd. A Bibliography containing a resume of the most 
noticeable work of the eai^ly authors. 
3rd. A Life-history, which includes the Metamor- 
phosis of Aphides, supplemented by a brief statement 
of the views of more recent investigators, with reference 
to their reproductive economy. 
4th. A Diagnosis of such species as have come under 
my notice in a living state, each species being illustrated 
by coloured figures representing the larval, pupal, 
alate, and, when possible, the sexual forms. 
5 th. A Description of the principal organs connected 
with the reproduction of Aphides, coupled with short 
remarks upon the morphology of the family. 
When we consider that during the last century and 
a half, both French and German naturalists have 
described the Aphides of their respective countries, it 
is a little remarkable, how small has been the activity 
of our own entomologists in this direction. Many 
workers have, doubtless, been deterred by the confusion 
into which this group has fallen with reference to its 
synonymy — a confusion partly caused by the want of 
good figures, and partly by the impossibility of pre- 
serving type- specimens of the insects in a condition 
fit for comparison. A further confusion of names has 
also arisen, from acting on a suggestion, first thrown out 
by the great Linn asus, that each species of plant possesses 
its own peculiar Aphis — an idea in a manner confirmed 
by him, when he made the specific names of those 
Aphides he knew coincide with the names of the plants 
on which they fed. 
Reaumer’s words, as quoted by Bonnet, lead to the 
same conclusion, though there is some reservation made. 
