10 PEEFACE. 



some of the other Orders of Insects as in the 

 Lepidoptera. 



The Moths belong to the ringed or jointed type 

 of animals, and, theoretically, the individuals may 

 be regarded as compound. As we descend in rank 

 in this type of structure, we find that there is a 

 tendency towards independence on the part of the 

 rings out of which the body is composed. The 

 lower "Worms are rather colonies of individual rings, 

 each segment beini? furnished with ors^ans of loco- 

 motion, respiration, digestion, and reproduction 

 variously modified. In the Moths (in which, with 

 other six-footed insects, the separation of the func- 

 tions is carried to its highest extent) the processes 

 of respiration, digestion, and reproduction are 

 carried on by organs situated in the abdominal 

 region. The middle region supports the legs and 

 wings, and the rings have become curiously welded 

 and arched in order to give firmness and room for 

 muscular development for the organs of locomo- 

 tion ; the anterior part of the body, or " head," is 

 provided with a mouth and " tongue," and carries 

 perceptive organs, by means of wliicli the insect 

 places itself in the most favourable conditions for 

 its existence. All the details in the life-history of 

 any one species supply material for our observation 

 of the way in which insect-life adapts itself to the 

 environment. And it is here that the study of 

 Entomology becomes of real interest and is relieved 

 from the childish aspect, which it else wears, of 

 being a mere collecting of diverse and pretty objects, 

 without any higher philosophical motive. With a 



