Introduction 



At long' and irregular periods a work on Nature appears that is of immediate 

 ijractical \'alue. jjecause it. may he read 1)\' all and understood. Such \v(jrks loom 

 high ahox'e man\- of the so-called "popular" books on natural history as most of 

 these are mere condensed reviews, not readable from the \"ie\v-point of sym])a- 

 thetic interest. Abjrecn-er. the ])ul)lications of the systematic workers are in- 

 tended for the \er\- few initiated into the technicalities of science. The pages 

 within these coxers tell a storv of a world replete witli wonders, beautx', tragedy 

 and. if we are to note the ])arallelisms to traits in human life, a considerable 

 amount of humor t(io. Mr. Step shou.ld be gixen due credit for his arrange- 

 ment: for throughout he has eliminate>l the atmos])here of classihcatii-n and at- 

 tendant weight}' details. 



Many }-ears ago we were escorted to the threshold of the world of insect 

 marx'els In' the fertile and sympathetic mind of Fabre. We read and marxelled 

 at delineations of Nature that fascinated like fairv romances. Air. Step has here- 

 with presented what we might call Fabre l)r(jught u]) to date, enhanced with the 

 assistance of the mcjdern camera and its magnif}-ing lenses. 



h'ew l)ranches of Nature offer such possibilities of fascinating studv as the 

 insects, and there are man}- di\ergent branches of obserxation. .Manv of these 

 relate to the care and obserxation of the !i\ing specimens, there are endless o])i)or- 

 tunities of studies x\ith the camera, xxhile the collecting and preserx-ation of the 

 more shoxx}- forms is replete xxith nexer-ending interest. There is a steadilx- 

 groxxing interest in Nature's creatures. In this interest, luirojie has led for 

 a loug xxhile. Hut in America " natural science "' and " biologx' "" classes hax'c 1)e- 

 come established features in all of the better schools. Twentx' xears ago tlie only 

 mention of natural histor}- during the com])lete course of the axerage school xxas 

 at ])eriodical phases (tf the geograi)h}- lessons and al\xa}s associated xxith a deco- 

 ratixe frieze of crudel}' draxxn animals that surrounded the map of the country 

 to be mentall}' e\j)lored. And xxith this change and the realization among edu- 

 cational institutions that the studx' of Nature i.> markedlx' beneficial upon the minds 

 of the }'ouiig. the interest in the insects has forged ahead of other branches of 

 Natiu-e's Big Faniil}-. 'fhere are a number of reasons for this. ( )ne is the fact 

 that insects are not necessarily inha1)itants of wild places. A modest little tloxxer 

 bed in a back }'ard \xill attract an aggregation. F.\er\- hedge has its denizens, 

 fhe great larx'^e of the silk-spinning moths max- be found within the parks of 

 congested cities and afford the child a xiexx" of the magic transformation and the 

 emergence of the moth from the cocoon, 'fhe commonest of the insects max- be 

 either fearsome or niarxellously beautifnl creatures when xiewed through an ordi- 

 nary magnifying glass. It is natural that creatures so easily found, so xaried ii-i 

 Copyrii/hf, 1915. by McBridc. Xast <l-r Coiiipaiiy. 



