THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST. 
51 
Metamorphoses incomplete (larva; and pupa; resembling adults to a 
great degree)— Or thop ter a, Hemiptera . 
Adults with four wings — Coleoptcra , Neurop ter a, Orthoptera , 
Hymenoplera , Lepidoptera , Hemiptera (the Coccid(C with two wings 
only). 
Adults with two wings — Dipfera 
But there are many exceptions and apparent exceptions to these 
groupings. For instance, many adult insects are without wings, or 
winged in one sex, and not in the others. With many beetles the 
flight wings are entirely absent. In the large family of weevils (of the 
beetles) there is often a long rostrum that appears as a sucking beak, 
until its tip is examined, when two very minute jaws can be seen. 
With some flies the mouth is provided with cutting lances. And 
there are probably some groups that will always be regarded as of 
doubtful positions. 
In addition there are Thysimura, which are supposed to be the 
lowest forms of insect life, and Stylopid<e, curious parasites of bees and 
hopping bugs, that have been referred at various times to the Hemip¬ 
tera and Coleoptera , or to a distinct order — Strepsiptera. 
notes on plant Classification. 
B\ L. ROD WAV (Government Botanist). 
I. GENERAL. 
FIELD NATURALIST, even if he does not wish to take up 
the study of botany, should know something of the bolder 
grouping of the plants he meets with, and he will find them of all 
the greater interest if he learns some of the general facts that have 
been ascertained. 
It is not necessary to define a plant, but it is as,well to recognise 
that however distinct plants seem from animals, yet it is only so in the 
more specialised types. The two kingdoms, of animals and plants, are 
continuous, and there are many places where it is only a matter of 
opinion whether a certain being should be placed in the one or the 
other group. There are many which are claimed alike by botanists and 
zoologists. The whole mass of living things constitute one organic king¬ 
dom with the one base of organic substance. Their functions are similar. 
Growth, assimilation, respiration, and reproduction are the same in both 
groups, only differing in detail, never in principle. Certainly plants alone 
develop that marvellous substance, plant-green or chlorophyll, which 
builds up the basis of all organic substance, sugar, from carbonic acid 
and water. And it is upon this product of green tissue that the whole of 
both plants and animals are dependant for their food. Yet a very 
great number of plants, far greater than the casual observer would 
