Australian insects / by Walter W. Froggatt.

  • Froggatt, Walter W. (Walter Wilson), 1858-1937.
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Australian insects / by Walter W. Froggatt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In 1815, Kirby and Spence issued tlie work in four volumes entitled “An Introduction to Entomology or Elements of the Natural History of Insects,” a second revised edition coming out in 181G. This was the first attempt in England to popularise entomology, and to give the ordinary reader an idea of classification. In it will be found a great deal of general information that all young entomologists should read. In Westwood’s “Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects,” published in 1839, a great advance was made, and the science placed on a sound footing; this has been a great help to all workers. He divided the insects into thir- teen orders; but, though the tendency of American and European writers has been to increase these divisions, we have reduced them, and in Kirby’s “Text Book of Ento- mology” only seven are used. In the last work, “Insects” (Cambridge Natural History, 1895), by Sharp, the same seven orders are used, though in a somewhat different manner, with the addition of an eighth, Thysanoptera, to contain the single family Thripidae. The correct naming of insects is based on the following rules: First comes the Order, which may contain a number of Families, all with certain peculiarities; as, for example, the straight-winged insects, Order Orthoptera, of which we will take the Family Acridiidae, “locusts.” This Family is again subdivided into smaller divisions or groups, called Genera; all the individuals comprised in the Genus have some well- defined external characters that form a common link bind- ing them together: the individuals are known as Species. Therefore each insect when it has been described has a generic or group name, and a specific or individual name. The generic name should be based on some Greek or Latin root, preferably the former, but it cannot of course be com- pounded from both languages; it should on translation give some clue to the general distinctive character of the group. The specific name should be derived from Latin, and give the student some idea of the locality, markings, colour, or shape of some part of the insect under observation; thus, Locust a australis, Brunner, is the southern locust or grasshopper. As a matter of convenience to students, the name or abbreviated name of the entomologist who first described the insect follows the name when mentioned in scientific articles or catalogues, but is not usually done in general work. The rules here laid down, however, are much more observed in the breach than in the observance. In former times most descriptions of insects were written in Latin, but at the pre- sent time they are being described not only in English, French, and German, but many other languages difficult for