CHAPTER 16 



SOME REPRESENTATIVE INSECTS 



The importance of the Insecta in the Animal Kingdom and their 

 interest to man, whether as pests or as objects of beauty, warrant a 

 more extended discussion than has been accorded to any of the 

 classes in other phyla. The bewildering diversity of insect hfe 

 makes it impossible to attempt more than a survey of the classifi- 

 cation and structural modifications, with brief mention of habits 

 and hfe cycles in a few representative examples. The description 

 of any one of these types might be profitably extended, even in an 

 elementary discussion. While the internal anatomy of insects 

 presents many points of interest to the comparative anatomist, the 

 more important feature of insect morphology is the modification 

 of external structures in adaptation to diversified modes of exist- 

 ence and in correlation with the habits of the species. Again, 

 insect life cycles cover a wide range of possible combinations in 

 food and environment. As a culmination, the intelligence of some 

 insects, such as the solitary wasps, and the social life that is so 

 highly developed in the " white ants " and in some of the bees and 

 true ants present the opportunity for much more discussion than 

 is possible within the present limits. The account that follows 

 deals rather concretely with special cases. Upon such a foundation 

 it is believed that the student can best build a more extensive 

 knowledge of this great group of animals and of the biological 

 phenomena they are particularly suited to illustrate. There is, 

 for example, no better basis for a general consideration of Ecology, 

 or the relation of organisms to their environment, than such a 

 knowledge of insects. 



Classification and General Organization 



Classification. — Opinion differs among students of the Insecta 

 as to the exact number of orders into which this class of the Phylum 



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