Insects and their world 



that every small part of it is most perfectly formed, every hair or bristle 

 has its place, every joint or socket is finished off with an incredible 

 precision. Look at the fleas in Figures 55 and 56, and then remember that 

 the whole insect is less than a quarter-inch long. A motor-car is a very 

 crude construction in comparison. Remember, too, that there are 

 probably about one million different models (or species) of insects. 



Chapter VII cannot begin to describe the diversity of insects, and has 

 to be content with explaining adaptation, convergence and mimicry, 

 three processes that govern some of the resemblances and differences 

 that we see among insects. 



Finally, we want to know how the insects affect us, as human beings, 

 and Chapter VIII discusses some of the ways in which insects influence 

 human affairs. 



I am grateful to my colleagues in the Department of Entomology, 

 for advising and correcting me in respect of the groups of which they 

 severally have expert knowledge, and more particularly to the Keeper 

 of Entomology, Dr W. E. China, and the Deputy Keeper, Mr J, P. 

 Doncaster, for their advice concerning the work as a whole. The Shell 

 Photographic Unit have generously allowed us to make use of nearly a 

 score of their photographs of living insects, a field in which this Unit 

 has a deservedly high reputation. The New Zealand Government kindly 

 supplied the originals of Figures 75 and 76. We are indebted to the Hon. 

 Miriam Rothschild for allowing us to use Figure 77, and to the Kenya 

 Information Office for Figure 78. Messrs Methuen have kindly 

 given permission for the use of several figures from Imms' General 

 Textbook of Entomology, and Wigglesworth's The Principles of Insect 

 Physiology, and supplied electrotypes of the original blocks. The other 

 line-drawings in this book are by Mr Arthur Smith, and the photographs 

 from pinned specimens were made by Mr C. Horton of the Photo- 

 graphic Studio of the Museum, to both of whom I am grateful for the 

 high quality of their work. 



vni 



