90 
SYSTEM OF NATURE. 
that the worms, notwithstanding the ring-like divisions so 
often observable in their bodies, are not supposed to range 
with the other Articulata. The remaining groups have 
been denominated Condylopoda, from the circumstance of 
their invariably possessing articulated legs. A certain por¬ 
tion of them also possess wings, and it will be seen how 
much stress has been laid on the absence or presence of 
wings, and on differences in their structure. 
The various arrangements or systems of Entomology 
have been founded on widely different characters. An 
excellent sketch of these will be found in the 48th letter 
of Kirby and Spence’s 6 Introduction to Entomology.’ The 
learned authors divide the history of Entomology into 
seven eras. 1. The Era of the Ancients. 2. The Era of 
the revival of the Science after the darkness of the Middle 
Ages. 3. The Era of Swammerdam and Kay, or of the 
Metamorphotic System. 4. The Era of Linneus, or of the 
Alary System. 5. The Era of Fabricius, or of the Maxillary 
System. 6. The Era of Latreille, or of the Eclectic System. 
7. The Era of MacLeay, or of the Quinary System. The 
second era is scarcely worthy of being so called, and the only 
relic of it that has reached us is the name of Annulosa, 
which Albertus Magnus appears to have first employed as 
a designation of the winged insects. The seventh era 
scarcely requires a notice, as it neither supplies new ma¬ 
terials nor recommends any new characters as available for 
the formation of divisions. Mr. MacLeay’s work is a 
brilliant but isolated event rather than an era : it may give 
valuable hints for others,—and certainly in the bright idea 
of circles it has done so, — but it bears the same relation 
to the true system as does the Ptolemaic to the Newton¬ 
ian. Ptolemy imagined the planets to revolve, but Newton 
