The Genera Infeftorum o f Linnaeus, exemplified by various
Specimens o f Englifh Infefts, drawn from Nature, by James
Barbut.
Clafs the firft. Coleoptra. The infects o f this clafs have
four wings ; the upper ones, called the elytra, are cruftaceous,
formed of a hard bony fubftance, which, when {hut, form a
longitudinal future down the back, as in the fcarabaeus, melolon-
tha, or cockchaffer, &c. &c.
2. Hem ipter a . Thefe have alfofourwings; but the elytra
are different, being half cruftaceous, half membranaceous: the
wings do not form a longitudinal future, but extend the one over
the other, as in the gryllus, grafshopper, &c.
3. L epidop tera. Thofe which have four membranaceous
wings covered with fine fcales,. as the butterflies and moths:
4. N e u r o p t e r a . Thefe have four membranaceous tranf-
parent wings, which are generally reticulated, as in the libellula,
or dragon flies.
5. Hymenoptera. Thefe, like the preceding clafs, have
four membranaceous wings ; but the abdomen is furnilhed with a
fling, as in the bees, wafps, &c.
6. D ip t e r a . Thefe have only two wings, as common houle
flies, gnats, &c.
7. Ap-
7 A p t e r a . Thefe have no wings, as fpiders, lice, acari,
&c.
O p t h e T r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f I n s e c t s .
Infeas are further diffinguifhed from other animals by the
wonderful changes that all, except thofe of the aptera clafs, pafs
through. Moll animals retain, during their whole life, the fame
form which they receive at their birth; but infeas go through
wonderful exterior and interior changes, infomuch that the fame
individual, at it’s birth and middle Hate, differs effentially from
that under which« appears, when arrived at a ftate of'maturity ;
and this difference is not confined to marks, colour, or texture,
but is extended to their form, proportion, motion, organs, and
habits o f life.
The ancient writers on natural hiflory were not unacquainted
with thefe transformations, but- the ideas they entertained o f
them were very imperfea, and often erroneous. It was not till
towards the latter end o f the lafl century that any juft conception
of this fubjeft was formed, and the myftery was then unveiled by
thofe two great anatomifts Malphigi and Swammerdam, who
obferved thefe infeas under every appearance, and by diffeding
them at the time juft preceding their changes, were enabled to
prove that the moth and butterfly grow and ftrengthen them-
felves, and- that their members are formed and unfolded, under
the figure o f the infea we call a caterpillar ; and they alfo (hewed,
that it is not difficult to exhibit in thefe all the parts of the future
moth, as it’s wings, legs, antennae, &e. and confequently that
the changes which are ' apparently fudden to our eyes, are gra