SOME SOUTH INDIAN INSECTS AND OTHER 



ANIMALS OF IMPORTANCE CONSIDERED 



ESPECIALLY FROM AN ECONOMIC 



POINT OF VIEW. 



Chapter I. 

 DEFINITION AND STRUCTURE OF INSECTS 



■■ And what "i insects, present everywhere, 

 I hrough sea and land, and iliuing in ihe ait ■ 

 Why, half the matter charged with life on land 

 little creatures, countless, must command. 

 Sec how in orders, legions filled, the) rise. 

 Living alone, and in communities; 



II as scarce t" meet ihe eye, 

 To ant. ami Ijcc. and gorgeous butterfly." 



KNIPE — Nebula to Man. 



IN its original meaning the word "animal" signified a breathing 

 being, but a more modern and exact definition would state that an 

 animal is an organism which is able to move and which can assimi- 

 late food which must contain proteids. This definition is nut exact 

 because then- are some plants winch can do both of these things ; 

 a familiar example is to be found commonly in marshy places in 

 the Hills (as at Ootacamund) in the shape of the Sundew (Drosera), 

 a true plant which captures insects, moves its tentacles into contact 

 with them and assimilates the proteids contained in their bodies. 

 There is in fact no rigid demarcation between animals and plants, 

 and very lowly organisms occur which may be referred with equal 

 propriety to either class ; but the point need not be laboured here, 

 because in popular language the ideas of animals and plants are 

 sufficiently distinct. 



Animals are divided into many races, or Phyla. The Protozoa, 

 or animals consisting of only a single cell, form the least special- 

 ized "I these phyla and are usually microscopic in si/.e ; the 

 organism which causes malaria may be quoted as an exampli Ml 

 other animals constitute the Metazoa, which consists of many phyla, 

 the more important of which are the Porifera (or Sponges), the 

 Coelenterata (Jelly-fish. Coral-polyp-, etc.). the Platy helminthes 

 (Flukes and Tape-worms) the Nemertinea, Nematoda and Annelida 

 (all popularly called " worm- "), the Arthropoda (Crabs, Scorpions, 

 Spiders, Insects', the Mollusca 'Snail- and Shell-fish' the Brachio- 

 poda (Lamp-shells), the Poly/.oa. the Echinodermata Star-fish. 

 Sea-urchin-, etc.' and the Vertebrata (Fishes, Frogs, Snake-. Birds, 

 Mammals 



