Australian insectsFroggatt, Walter W. (Walter Wilson)
Science
Australian insects
Froggatt, Walter W. (Walter Wilson)
Insects -- Australia
In 1815, Kirby and Spence issued the work in four volumes entitled
“An Introduction to Entomology or Elements of the Natural History of
Insects,” a second revised edition coming out in 1816. 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 thirteen 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 Entomology” 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 binding
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
compounded 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, _Locusta 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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