There are a few little insects which, like the spiders which crept across Richard's brain, are somewhat perplexing to the naturalist, yet he cannot dispose of them as the monarch did of his spiders; I mean Pulex, Stylops, Thrips, Forficula. But, in truth, the first attempt of the systematist should be to place classes properly, and these disconnected species will, after a time, find appropriate places: they were no more created without a design than man; and their Creator, doubtless, has appointed them a station, although man, whose wisdom is utter ignorance, has not yet been able to discover it. It is impossible for the entomologist not to observe the general similarity, the family likeness if I may so express it, which exists between these genera; they appear a little way removed from Coleoptera, yet will not harmoniously join that class. Thrips is evidently mandibulated, although the dichotomists call it haustellated, and comes nearer to Stylops[30] than any other known genus: its larva is, I believe, unknown; but in March you may observe an active hexapod, lizard-like animal, running about the flowers of Ranunculus ficaria on sunny banks, and two or three months later you will find Thrips abundant on the same flowers in the same spots: this is no proof of their identity; but as the larva of Thrips and the imago of the said hexapod are equally unknown, there may be a surmise expressed on the subject. Mr. Kirby calls this hexapod Pediculus Melittæ, and has given a description and plate of it in his _Monographia Apum_.[31] He there asserts that De Geer considered it the larva of the Melöe proscarabæus, and some observations of my esteemed friend, Mr. Doubleday, who succeeded in obtaining the larva of Melöe from the egg, certainly tended to corroborate De Geer. But I am rather wandering from my subject, and, therefore, will consider these little creatures also, wandering like comets in eccentric courses over the whole system, now approaching Staphylinus, and anon Ichncumon, and, as they draw near, borrowing a character from each: they may, on the other hand, constitute disconnected links of some other mighty chain, the intervening parts of which are for a time hidden from the sight of man, and perhaps hereafter may be revealed; perhaps, again, they may occupy some of the chasms I have been compelled to leave vacant: but I deprecate, I detest the idea, of forcing any creature into a situation which nature has not evidently pointed out as its appropriate one, for the ignoble purpose of giving plausibility and imperfect perfection to a scheme. [30] For a beautiful and accurate figure and dissections of this rare insect, see Curtis's Entomology, pl. 226: for a _popular_ figure, _Professor-edly_ of the same insect, see Insect Transformations, p. 67. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.