[6] A neuropterous insect, not a true ant.—Ed.
[7] A beetle.—Ed.
[8] The meat-fly.—Ed.
[9] It is probable that one day the order Aptera will be superseded. The absence of wings is not really a character of great value. De Blainville, Mollard, Pouchet, Van Beneden, and Gervais, have made several attempts in that direction. The fleas have been placed among the Diptera, and the lice among Hemiptera in the "Traité de Zoologie Médicale" of these two last authors.
[10] Sometimes called halteres.—Ed.
[11] "Suites à Buffon." 2 vols. 8vo.
[12] The genus Cecidomyia, which belongs to this family, presents the most extraordinary instance of agamo-genesis—or reproduction without fertilisation by another individual—at present known among insects. Until lately it was almost an axiom with naturalists that no insect was capable of reproduction until it had attained its adult or perfect state. Several Continental observers, some of them without any knowledge of the others' discoveries, have found that the larvæ of some of the species of this genus reproduce larvæ resembling themselves in every respect; and what is still more strange, these larvæ live in a free state within the parent larvæ, feeding upon its tissues, and causing its ultimate destruction.
A very interesting article on this subject will be found in the Popular Science Review for the 1st April, 1868. The larvæ of a species (Cecidomyia tritici) frequently causes much injury to the wheat.— Ed.
[13] The insects produced from the caddis or case- worm.—Ed.
[ [14] ] May-fly family.—Ed.