93 
SYSTEM OF NATURE. 
SWAMMERDAM. 
CLASSES. 
Metamorphosis Obtected. 
„ Coarctate. 
« Incomplete. 
„ Semicomplete. 
„ Complete. 
Lepidoptera. 
A part of Diptera, (the Muscidae, 
&c., in which the so-called 
pupa appears as though turn¬ 
ed in a lathe), and the Ieh- 
neumones minuti. 
The remainder of the Diptera, 
H ymenoptera and Coleoptera, 
and a part of the Neuroptera. 
Orthoptera, Hemiptera, and a 
part of Neuroptera. 
Aptera. 
The modern entomologist will at once see the impropri¬ 
ety of thus dividing the Ichneumones : the origin of the 
error may possibly be traced to the appearance of the 
cocoons of the little Microgaster, which infests the larva of 
the common cabbage-butterfly. The order of sequence is 
reversed in the above table. 
The Era of Linneus is next in succession, and from this 
great man dates the binominal nomenclature which has 
since been universally adopted. His division of insects 
depends solely on the wings : in this it resembles that of 
Aristotle, to which I can scarcely say that I consider it 
superior, excepting inasmuch as the definitions are given 
with a surpassing brevity and point. 
It will moreover be observed that Aristotle’s striking 
division of all the Articulata, with the exception of two 
genera, into winged and apterous, is abandoned by Linneus, 
who comprises the whole of the apterous articulates in an 
order equivalent to Lepidoptera or Diptera : this has the 
appearance of a retrograde step rather than an improve¬ 
ment : his system is given on the next page. 
