Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Entomology.djvu/72

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MEMOIR OF DE GEER.
Insecta. Aptera. Saltatoria. 11. Suctoria, (Pulex.)
Gressoria.
12. Aucenata, (Lepisma, Podura, Pediculus, &c.)
13. Atrachelia, (Spiders and Crabs.)
14. Crustacea, (Isopoda, Myriopoda.)

This arrangement, which has been explained in a separate work by Retzius,[1] is, in several respects, inferior to that of Linnæus, the improved editions of whose Systema Naturæ had previously appeared. Yet in one particular it was an improvement, namely by the insulation of the Orthoptera, which Linnæus had confounded with the Hemiptera. The parts of the mouth are taken into consideration in De Geer's system, and in this respect it may be said to be intermediate between that of Linnæus and Fabricius. In many instances it must be allowed to be highly natural and worthy of emanating from such a distinguished entomologist, and there can be little doubt that it would have enjoyed more consideration than has fallen to its lot, if every thing of this nature, at the time when it appeared, had not been eclipsed by the culminating star of Linnæus.

  1. Car. lib. Bar. de Geer genera et species Insectorum, &c. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1783.