INSECT 

 TRANSFORMATION 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



A observant rambler in field or woodland on a sum- 

 mer day cannot fail to be struck by the variety and 

 abundance of the insect life around him. Grass- 

 hoppers chirp in the herbage at his feet, dragon-flies pursuing 

 their prey swoop in rapid flight through the air ; butterflies 

 flit and bees linger about the flowers ; while the rambler 

 himself serves as a centre of attraction to hundreds of small 

 flies, some of which probably try to feed on his blood. He 

 need evince no surprise should he be told that the number 

 of different kinds of insects exceeds by far that of all other 

 groups of animals taken together ; and if natural objects 

 have any hold upon his thought, he can hardly fail to realize 

 that the Insect World may furnish abundant material for 

 studies of absorbing interest. 



Probably he knows that the hosts of delicately-formed 

 winged creatures around him, have passed through a wonderful 

 process of growth and change in the course of their short lives. 

 At least he is well aware that the gaily-coloured butterfly, 

 unable to bite and feeding on the nectar of blossoms, has 

 developed from a crawling caterpillar which masticated leaves 

 and devoured them in solid pieces. The honey-bee that also 

 haunts the blossoms was once a soft grub, lying helpless and 

 dependent in a waxen chamber of the comb. The flies that 

 buzz around the intruder have come from a childhood passed 

 as grubs or maggots in a vast variety of sheltered situations 



