FOSSIL INSECTS 55 



FOSSIL INSECTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 



CLASS INSECTA 1 



By ANTON HANDLIRSCH 

 ADJUNCT CURATOR, ROYAL IMPERIAL NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, VIENNA, AUSTRIA 



rpo the majority of mankind, who supposedly are inclined to look 

 -*~ on the bright side of life, the sound of the word ' insects ' ever 

 recalls the picture of a wide-awake boy with a green net and possibly 

 with a botanical box of the same hue, but more vivid in color, chasing 

 along after the variegated butterflies and beetles. He seldom over- 

 takes them, but positively assures us that he already has a ' nearly 

 complete collection of insects of fifty or more species.' With this 

 same word ' insects ' many a pessimist, however, will bring to mind 

 only the small troublesome pests of his home, perhaps even of his own 

 worthy person, or certain minute organisms to which he indirectly 

 ascribes the cause of the more and more frequently recurring adultera- 

 tion of his wine. In each instance, the matter will be quickly des- 

 patched either with a good-natured smile or with a gentle imprecation, 

 and only rarely does Homo sapiens attempt to make clear to himself 

 what the word ' insects ' really signifies. 



That insects constitute a subdivision of the Arthropoda, to which 

 group spiders, crabs and myriapods also belong, and that they are dis- 

 tinguished by the possession of only six legs and four or two wings, 

 have with other details doubtless been acquired at school, where, too, 

 knowledge was surely gained of many forms because of their usefulness 

 (bees and silkworms) or because of their injurious character (moths, 

 bark-scarabs and plant-lice). 



Of the immense part that insects play in the household of nature 

 and especially in science, however, of their truly wonderful diversity 

 in bodily structure, of their organization, habits of living and develop- 

 ment, as well as of the number of species, the greatest ignorance still 

 prevails everywhere. 



In proof of this not too flattering assertion, therefore, we will at 

 once proceed to give a statistical summary, strictly in round numbers, 

 of the insects now existing and scientifically recorded and named. 



About 3,000 species of grasshoppers and crickets (Locustidas and 

 Gryllidas) are known, whose music fills the woods and meadows of both 



1 Translated from the German by Lucy Peck Bush, Peabody Museum, Yale 

 University. (Mitt. d. Sect. f. Naturk. d. Osterreich. Tour.-Klub, April, 

 1905, pp. 25-30.) 



