62 
NOTICES OF SERIALS. 
almost necessarily, that errors and false reasoning here become in the like propor- 
tion detrimental to the cause of the science. In the present instance, we are afraid 
that Mr. Newman has done little but increase the number of synonymous terms , 
without any material contribution to the knowledge of the things, by this Memo¬ 
randum The subject of it is stated as being “ those familiar portions of an 
insect’s wing, commonly known as nervures or veins.” Commencing with a criti¬ 
cism on the variety of names that have been applied to these parts, and 
on the alleged general neglect to consider their use and function, as the 
basis for a correct nomenclature, the author goes on to characterize them as 
u a strong and durable framework, on which the filmy fabric is extended,” and 
states, very truly, that “the framework is the support of the membrane, and at the 
same time the instrument by means of which its movements are accomplished.” 
Having thus come, as he imagines, to “ a conclusion opposite to the received opi¬ 
nions and habitual usages of all (his) Entomological friends,” the author gathers 
courage from contemplating himself in this antithetical position ; and he adjudges 
the objects in question to be “ exclusively organs of support, in exactly the same 
sense as the bones of vertebrates are so considered.” Rejecting, accordingly, the 
terms “ veins, nerves,” &c., as physiologically inapplicable to these organs, he has 
illustrated their analogy to the bones of a bat’s wing, and concludes—the reader 
will doubtless suppose—in favour of the term Pterygostea (wing-bones) long since 
proposed by Leach, and “ which implies the truth.” Not so. Having proved (?) 
them to be bones, therefore he decides that, “ the simple word ray , latinized by 
radius , will be found sufficiently descriptive, and fortunately possesses another 
claim, that of priority.” Having arrived at this climax, we confess we rubbed our 
eyes a little, to convince ourselves we were broad awake, before we turned the page. 
But there we found not a word more on the subject—neither reference in support 
of this last most unexpected assertion, nor explanation, qualification, or note of any 
sort. Has it, then, been in dreams only, or by second sight, that we have hitherto 
imagined ourselves to have been familiar with the (newly discovered) motory func¬ 
tion of these “ ossa innominata,”—for we dare not yet a while entitle them again as 
we have been accustomed. Have “nerves” and “veins” been mere idola specus, opti¬ 
cal illusions, but now obliterated irrevocably from the black-letter pages of medieval 
twilight by the renascent rays of an elder day? Have Chabrier, Jurine, Audoum, 
and the rest he has enumerated, but unconsciously accumulated the evidence, the 
force of which they failed to perceive, and furnished the mere raw materials, out of 
which it was reserved for a Newman to draw illumination ? The question deserves, 
we think, investigation ; and if we can show that the premises are no less faulty than 
the conclusion appears illogical, we are satisfied that no one will be more ready than 
the author himself graciously and frankly to abandon the innovation, and to ac¬ 
quiesce in the nomenclature established by age, authority, and usage, and, as we 
believe, quite as defensible on grounds of reason as that which he has advocated 
here. For a definition, then, we turn at once to the most trite authority at hand— 
Illiger’s Terminology—where we read of insects, § 1708, “Wing-nerves, Wing- 
veins, Alarum Vasa seu Net vi seu Vence , the ribs, or vessels, which form the prin¬ 
cipal fabric of the wing, between which the membrane is fastened.” Short as the 
definition, it is anything but opposite to Mr. Newman’s own, which we have quoted. 
Take another description, a little more in detail, from the Course of Lectures on 
Natural History, delivered in 1772, by the celebrated Adanson. We quote the 
edition of them, from his own manuscripts, printed at Paris, in 1845, in two volumes 
12mo., page 265 : “ All these different sorts of wings, whether cartilaginous, hard, 
thick and opaque, or membranous and of the greatest tenuity, are all alike com¬ 
posed of two delicate laminae, between which run the nervures, which convey 
nourishment, movement, and life to this part.” The remark, fc a little further down 
in the same page, about “ the internal air propelled through the tracheae or air 
vessels, which run alongside of the nerves and nutritive vessels,” shows how com¬ 
plete a knowledge of the structure of these organs was possessed by the illustrious 
botanist. Compare now with this the statement of one of the first of living insect 
physiologists, Burmeister, in his Manual of Entomology, vol. 3, page 45, concern¬ 
ing “ the relation of the horny veins, which serve partly for the tension of the mem¬ 
brane, partly for conveying of the air-tubes, nerves, and currents of blood,” and it 
