IJNTRODUCTION. 



19 



In the descriptions which we shall give of Insect 

 Architecture, we shall employ as few technical words 

 as possible; and such as we cannot well avoid, we 

 shall explain in their places: but, since our subject 

 chiefly relates to the reproduction of insects, it may 

 be useful to many readers to introduce here a brief 

 description of the changes which they undergo. 



It was of old believed that insects were produced 

 spontaneously by putrefying substances; and Virgil 

 gives the details of a process for creating a swarm 

 of bees out of the carcase of a bull : but Redi, a cele- 

 brated Italian naturalist, proved by rigid experiments 

 that they are always, in such cases, hatched from eggs 

 previously laid. Most insects, indeed, lay eggs, though 

 some few are viviparous, and some, like serpents, 

 propagate both ways. The eggs of insects are very 

 various in form, and seldom shaped like those of 

 birds. We have here figured those of several species, 

 as they appear under the microscope. 



Eggs of /nscc^s.— Magnified 



