Part 1

Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with underscores: _italics_. The cover of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby placed in the public domain.

SPHINX VESPIFORMIS:

AN ESSAY

BY

EDWARD NEWMAN.

"All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and GOD the soul."

LONDON: FREDERICK WESTLEY & A. H. DAVIS, STATIONERS' HALL COURT. 1832.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY R. CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL, CHEAPSIDE.

TO HIS HIGHLY-ESTEEMED FRIEND, BRACY CLARK, ESQ. FELLOW OF THE LINNÆAN SOCIETY OF LONDON, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, &c. &c. _THIS LITTLE ESSAY_ IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

The question--What was the Sphinx Vespiformis of Linnæus?--is one that has occurred to almost every entomologist. It seemed rather strange that Linnæus should have described, in all his works, an insect which had no existence; yet that really appeared to be the case. Laspeyres, the clever monographer of the _Europæan Sesiæ_, previously to the appearance of that work, wrote to my highly valued and ingenious friend, Mr. Clark, requesting that he would investigate and describe for him the real Linnæan specimen of Vespiformis which was in the Linnæan cabinet, at that time in the possession of the late Sir J. E. Smith. Mr. Clark not only described the specimen in question, but employed that excellent artist, Sydenham Edwards, to make a drawing of it, which was forthwith forwarded to Berlin. Laspeyres exclaims--"_Sed quod spectaculum!_--_Sesia asiliformis erat_."[1] This was too much to believe; the search was given up as hopeless, and the existence of the Linnæan Vespiformis was pretty much considered a fable. On making some inquiries, a few months back, about the species of Ægeria, the total loss of one out of the three Linnæan species appeared a little unaccountable; and seeing the name of my friend in Laspeyres' work, in the note above referred to, I determined to have recourse to him, as the best authority on the subject. Mr. Clark, with the greatest kindness, at once accompanied me to pay a visit to the said Sphinx, now in possession of the Linnæan Society: we instantly, on seeing it, fell in with the decision of Laspeyres--"_Sesia asiliformis erat_;" yet it agreed excellently with the character which Linnæus had assigned to Vespiformis: "_Alis fenestratis; abdomine barbato nigro; incisuris tribus posterioribus margine flavis: capite annulo flavo_."[2]--No character could be more correct; the specimen was labelled in the handwriting of Linnæus, and the fenestrated wings merely arose from the specimen being exceedingly wasted. The fact was decided: the proof is open to all; and the existence of Sphinx Vespiformis must henceforth cease to be a fable.

[1] Sesiæ Europeæ, p. 18. Obser.

[2] Linn. Syst. Nat. T. I. Pars. II. p. 804.

To ascertain the place among insects, or even animated beings, which this Sphinx Vespiformis naturally occupies, I have attempted in the following pages.

The SYSTEMA NATURÆ has for years been the object of my most diligent search; but the idea which I have here taken of the subject is scarcely a month old. An anxiety to hear the opinions of others has urged me to scribble these few pages, with, I fear, far more haste than good speed; for it has happened that other engagements have prevented my affording them any time but that usually devoted to repose: so that the rapid and careless manner in which the sketch has been drawn, must be my apology for the very imperfect state in which I now offer it to the public. I feel, however, a firm conviction that my theory is too near an approach to truth, to suffer from any garb, however slovenly, in which I may have dressed it.

I must for the same reason here observe, that I will in no way pledge myself to the infallibility of the precise points of contact hereafter proposed, nor shall I notice any attempts which may be made to invalidate the principle of my theory, by appealing to such trivial inaccuracies. Feeble efforts of this kind are naturally and very excusably called forth by a feeling of disappointment at the sudden destruction of favourite and long-cherished theories: skilfully managed, they often throw a momentary shade over truth, but never can extinguish it; he, therefore, who is confident in having truth on his side, would be acting ungenerously to quarrel with them.

To conclude--for many excellent suggestions, and the kind and continued interest which he has taken in the progress of this little Essay, I embrace this opportunity of publicly acknowledging my sincere thanks to my esteemed friend, Mr. Edward Doubleday; feeling, however, that such thanks are a very inadequate return for his invaluable assistance.

DEPTFORD, _January 25, 1832_.

ERRATA.

Page 14, line 27, _for_ I will suppose them, _read_ I will suppose, then, 41, 6, _for_ Lasciocampa, _read_ Lasiocampa 41, 23, _for_ of each, _read_ on each 42, 4, _dele_ previously 44, _note_, _for_ Lithosia, _read_ Lithosiæ 52, line 33, _for_ Phalænæ, _read_ Phalæna 52, 38, _for_ kaned, _read_ naked

SPHINX VESPIFORMIS.

_&c._

ON THE PRIMARY DIVISION OF NATURE.

Any attempt to overthrow existing systems, originally devised and unanimously approved by men of superior talents and great acquirements, should not only be made but received with the greatest possible caution; but when, as in the arrangement of the objects of natural history, there exists no universally received plan, but each systematist has, for a few months, or at most, years, his little circle of immediate followers and admirers, one thing must be obvious,--that the true system is yet undiscovered; and, therefore, surely it is competent to every one, however unqualified, to try his hand at the task: that the true system has not been discovered, is admitted by Mr. MacLeay, the only individual who has made any thing like an approach to it; for, in the preface to the _Annulosa Javanica_, which appeared subsequently to the _Horæ Entomologicæ_, in which his circular and quinary system is proposed, he acknowledges, that, "as yet, we have not even arrived at the threshold of nature's temple."

Some individuals would, I believe, argue that no fixed system or plan prevails in nature, but that each individual species exists quite independently of, and unconnected with all the rest; others, again, allow that there is a system, but without any other division than that of species; thus theoretically disallowing those plain and universally intelligible groups, which we term beasts, birds, fishes, and insects. It seems to me highly improbable that a Creator, who has, with such unerring wisdom, adapted means to their destined ends, should have performed any part of the mighty work of creation without a fixed and perfect design. If we consider that no muscle, tendon, or vein, however minute, whether in man, the highest, or in those animals which may be reckoned the lowest grade among created beings, but has functions appointed for it regularly to perform, and that no single portion of our frame can be parted with, without occasioning us inconvenience, it seems fair to infer, that no single atom, or no one created thing, exists without filling some appointed place in a great and perfectly organized and arranged whole; however far that whole may, and must be, above our limited understandings. To doubt the existence of a natural system appears to me to be precisely equivalent to doubting a creation; for one cannot conceive the various tribes of animals to have received their being at the hands of an Omnipotent Creator, and yet to be indebted, at the same time, to chance for those gradual shades of difference from each other, which are found so harmoniously blending group into group, that the practised naturalist may follow up the same peculiarity of habit or structure, however varied in its development, from one to the other of the most opposite beings which you can place before him. Infinitely varied, however, as the course of such a peculiarity must be, the naturalist never finds those sudden departures from the regular flow of variation, which all systems, even the most approved, are constantly exhibiting; the reason of which is, that, in thus tracing approaches in his mind, he will continually discover an individual completely surrounded by others, each of which partakes of its peculiarities, not only in a different degree, but in a different mode; and thus he will perceive the character on which his attention has been fixed, ramifying in all directions. Now no system, hitherto suggested, will at all cope with this; it has been the plan, and I imagine the fault of all our systems, that they are so constructed as to be incapable of receiving a character from, or imparting it to, more than a single individual: hence they never can possess capacity sufficient to exhibit those endless chains of relation which the mind so luxuriates in tracing. The want of such a system has been, I believe, universally acknowledged, and should my humble endeavour even prepare the way for its establishment, and act the mere part of a herald to proclaim its approach, I shall not only be satisfied, but delighted.

I cannot here plough my toilsome track through the wild waste of systems and speculations, which have embarrassed, rather than assisted, natural history during the last hundred years; my aim will be more to make myself understood than comment on the merits of others, except as I can lay them under contribution to enhance my own.

Previously to the publication of Mr. MacLeay's _Horæ Entomologicæ_, it appears to have been an opinion universally prevalent, that there existed in nature a regularly graduated scale of beings, beginning with man as the most perfect, and terminating in the least perfect creature known to possess life. One ingenious author had varied a little from this theory by allowing a double series to nature's works, which commencing on a level with the most perfect animal and most perfect plant, descended gradually and approached as they descended, until they met in those jelly-like substances which seem yet to hover between the two kingdoms, puzzling naturalists by their proximity to both--the system thus assuming the shape of the letter V.[3]

[3] The system of Lamarck.

However convenient for the formation of a catalogue, or the arrangement of a cabinet, such a system may be; and however inconvenient or impracticable any other conceivable plan may appear, I think few will concur in imagining man capable of, or warranted in, thus setting up limits and boundary-marks to the works and power of his Maker; for the next step, as a matter of course, would be the application of similar restrictions to infinite space, which he might as reasonably expect to bring under his sapient admeasurement.

Our country has the credit of having first sapped the foundation of a building, which, though by its founder[4] termed a commodious and well covered house, could not retain religion or reason among its inmates; indeed, the illustrious Swede was himself the first to see and to know that his mansion, however commodious, was built but on the sand; but knowing its imperfections, he cared not to alter them: he thought it enough to acknowledge without striving to amend them; in fact, he really seems to have considered the natural system, like the philosopher's stone, a mere _ens imaginationis_, the pursuit of which would be but a waste of time: he doubted not its existence, but he doubted man's ability to discover it.

[4] Linnæus.

Such was natural history when Mr. MacLeay's immortal work first diffused its splendour over the world. The power of thought, the profound research which he there exhibited, and the confession that "he was one of those who preferred an imperfect transitory glimpse of nature pure and unveiled, to a full view of the most commodious and ostentatious mantle that could be employed to conceal her features from the gaze,"[5] were such novelties in the science, that men scarcely credited their understandings: they began thinking, and have continued to think until the term naturalist is not, as it was but a short time back, immeasurably separated from that of philosopher. The extraordinary merit of the _Horæ Entomologicæ_ consists, not merely in disclosing and elucidating the invaluable fact, that a series of affinities, naturally arranged, has a constant tendency to describe a circle which eventually returns into itself: a still more important feature of the work is, that unceasing and determined endeavour evinced by its learned author to seek after, weigh, and examine facts, and to employ these alone in the support of his theories,--an endeavour indicative of that only true spirit of philosophy which has and can have no other end in view than the establishment of truth.

[5] Horæ Entomologicæ, preface, p. xxiv.

That I suppose Mr. MacLeay to have mistaken the number which nature has adopted in the combination and distribution of her various tribes--that I totally dissent from his idea of analogies and affinities, and from his division or rather adoption of Clairville's division of insects into mandibulate and haustellate, will be sufficiently evident from the contents of this little Essay; but in these and all other instances, in which I feel myself bound to disclose any difference of opinion which may tend to reveal or establish truth, I hope I shall always be found urging my objections with the deference due to an author from whose works I have extracted many important facts, and the still more important discovery which forms the ground-work of my own theory.

That nature has a decided tendency to the formation of circles, I cannot for one moment doubt. If there be yet doubters on that subject,--if there be yet those who deem the discovery of Mr. MacLeay a mere invention of his own, let them consider the plan of the universe, as established by the celebrated Newton,--let them behold the glorious sun, a circular centre of light and life; let them observe the circular attendant worlds, which revolve in circles about him, and which are themselves attended by circular moons, whose progression is still in circles: the very days of the year, a varied effect of the same universally operating cause, proclaim the existence of a circle, by lengthening and shortening until they arrive at the very day from which our observations began. These facts, these unquestionable facts, while they beautifully illustrate the existence of circles in the grand primary distribution of nature, point quite as decidedly to another conclusion, which it is my aim also to establish--that there is a tendency universally developed, in a greater or less degree, in all minor or less important circles to arrange themselves round major or more important ones. Systematists, although fully allowing the existence of this tendency in this the primary or highest system of nature which human intellect has hitherto been able to grasp; yet its application in detail to the systematic arrangement of the numerous objects of natural history has hitherto been totally neglected. It can hardly be supposed that the idea has never occurred to any of the illustrious writers who have devoted their time and talents to this interesting subject: it has most probably occurred, and been rejected as insupportable. It may perhaps be, that the apparent difficulty of arranging the objects of natural history thus, as it were, in a mass, has operated somewhat against the proposal or adoption of a plan like the present; but if we come to consider the question with the cool deliberation which an inquiry of this kind requires, I trust it will be generally considered that our first object is to discover, if possible, nature's plan; our second to adapt it to our own artificial ideas. Should the present, or any future scheme, prove incontrovertible,--and incontrovertible the real system of nature must be, whenever discovered,--it will then be high time to meditate on the best plan of rendering it serviceable to ourselves, and available to science; and objectors on this score must please to recollect that the calculations for eclipses, and other important astronomical phenomena, experienced any thing but delay or difficulty from Newton's development of the true solar system. Be the system of nature discovered when it may, it will never be found that _Appia Via_ which Linnæus has made it out to be, but rather like the Cretan labyrinth, and whoever may happen to be the fortunate Theseus, must undertake the task of showing the way to his competitors, until it becomes so well known, that a map of the road[6] may be drawn for the use of all.

[6] A systematic catalogue.

It being then incontrovertibly established, that nature possesses, on the grand scale, two tendencies; one, the formation of globes or circles, the other, the disposition of inferior creations to cluster round superior ones, is it too great a presumption to imagine tendencies thus exhibited in the creation and government of worlds, as in some degree typical of the design from which universal nature has been modelled? Is there the least violation of probability in supposing the great and beneficent CREATOR the centre of HIS works, and from the centre pervading and upholding HIS wonderful and stupendous creation? And again, may not minor centres typify those beings on whom HE has been pleased to bestow a marked superiority over those around them? Such an one is man, of whom it is said, "In His own image created he him."[7]

[7] Genesis i. 27.

I will suppose them a system composed of an immense multitude of material beings, organic and inorganic, animate and inanimate, revolving in circles around the central, everlasting abode of that Providence who created, pervades, and upholds them, and can, by the act of HIS will, either annihilate or create anew,--a supposition much more readily admitted than rejected; and, although not positively proved, yet incapable of disproof from man's researches. I will further suppose the minor circles occasionally clustering round major ones; yet I am still in want of some number by which to allot to these circles their respective stations, and give something like a primary arrangement to a multitude that would be, without such an assistance to man's capacity, an utter wilderness of beings; and here it will be perfectly useless to devise or invent: the only right plan is carefully to examine all authority within our reach, and steadfastly endeavour to discover truth.

No authority on this subject can be equal to the Scriptures; and there we find the number seven always used as a number of greater importance than any other;--the six days of creation, and the seventh day of rest, from that time more or less observed as a holy or superior day, by divine command,[8] is the first and one of the most remarkable instances: I need merely mention the seven clean animals which Noah was commanded to take into the ark, the seven plagues, seven years of famine and of plenty, and that more than two hundred other instances occur in the Old Testament. In the New the number seven occurs still more remarkably: as seven golden candlesticks, seven churches, seven angels, and seven spirits of God. I need scarcely go further; but being able to adduce the opinions which have been avowed by the greatest naturalists that have ever lived, I rejoice to strengthen my own opinion by such high authorities. M. le Baron Cuvier, in a paper published in 1795, divided all invertebrate animals into six groups, the vertebrates forming the seventh.[9] Our eminent countryman, Mr. Kirby, observes: "The number five, which Mr. MacLeay assumes for one basis of his system, as consecrated in nature, seems to me to yield to the number seven, which is consecrated both in nature and in Scripture. Metaphysicians reckon seven principal operations of the mind; musicians seven primary musical notes; and opticians seven primary colours. In Scripture the abstract idea of this number is fulness, completeness, perfection. I have a notion, though not yet sufficiently matured, that Mr. MacLeay's quinaries are resolvable into septenaries."[10] Our own observation will speedily convince us, that most groups of animals with which we are tolerably well acquainted are divisible into seven; we shall never find the number greater, and when less, we shall invariably perceive that the deficiency exists in groups of which our knowledge is particularly limited, for the perfection of a septenary distribution of any particular group will depend entirely on our acquaintance with that group: thus the groups at present known by the names Mammalia, Aves, and Insecta, resolve themselves instantly into sevens. No ingenuity can frame eight good groups of either, and no scheme, however plausible, can reduce the number to sixes or fives. An attempt to reduce birds into five groups has been made in this country; I cannot do better than refer the reader to it as a triumphant confirmation of the predominance of the number seven.[11] The great Linnæus assigned to Mammalia seven orders, to Aves six, and to Insecta seven, in a system which, though capable of improvement in many of the orders, evidently points to the truth, and considering his limited means of reference, compared with what the naturalist now possesses, was a remarkable and magnificent monument of human talent.[12]

[8] Genesis ii. 3.

[9] Translation of Cuvier by Griffith, Vol. I. p. 64, note. Cuvier has since adopted the number four.

[10] Introduction to Entomology, Vol. III. p. 15, note.

[11] By Mr. Vigors. Linnæan Transactions.

[12] It will be observed that in the Mollusca, Radiata, and Acrita of MacLeay, all attempts to employ a particular number in grouping will be found futile, a circumstance obviously attributable to our ignorance; and the only conclusion to be drawn from it is this: that, as these tribes can never be rendered available for any numerical distribution, so they can never be fairly and satisfactorily adduced in refutation of such a distribution.

To go back two thousand years before the birth of Linnæus, may be thought rather an unlikely mode of obtaining proof of the value of a modern theory in natural history; yet at that time we find a system of insects[13] divided so accurately into seven groups, that every attempt to improve it has, as far as regards these great groups, proved an utter fallacy. Now this array of names, Aristotle, Linnæus, Cuvier and Kirby, thus corroborating Holy Writ, even in direct opposition to our own observations, is entitled to a good degree of confidence; but how much more cheerfully is that confidence given when our own unbiassed judgment must thoroughly coincide!

[13] That of Aristotle.

Presuming, therefore, that a septenary and circular arrangement, with one seventh superior to the others, does exist in nature, its first application must necessarily be made to the result of the six days' creation, which I consider as typifying six grand groups of matter, and the seventh--the day of rest, emphatically commanded to be kept holy--that Omnipotence who created and presides over the stupendous work.[14]