Transformations of Insects. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



The beings which belong to the great zoological group of the 

 Articidata are found in enormous numbers in nearly every part 

 of the world. 



The articulate animals comprise those which the great Linnaeus 

 called " insects " — that is to say, the true insects, the hundred-legs, 

 the spiders, and the crabs. 



Insects existed in very remote geological ages, and their wings 

 have been found beautifully preserved in the remains of those old 

 forests and swamps which have been formed into coal. 



Thus early in the world's history the beetle droned at eventide, 

 and the merry chirp of the grasshopper was added to the song of 

 Nature. Moreover, the hundred-legs of the period enjoyed the 

 quietude of the great tree stems, and many a spider spread its web 

 on the ferns and the close underwood. Coal is dug up from depths 

 of hundreds of fathoms, and is covered by sediments which are tlie 

 remains of old continents, and sea bottoms, the thickness of which 

 is a measure of the time they took to form ; yet so far back in 

 the annals of Nature the tiny insects came from the ^gg, lived as 

 gormandising grubs, changed into sleepy pupx, and burst forth 

 into lively winged creatures. Ever since, and during all the 

 successive changes of the world's surface, insect life has manifested 

 itself, and now articulate animals are found everywhere. 



B 



