CHAPTER XIX 



INSECTS AND CIVILIZATION 



OF the great groups of animals, insects stand first 

 in number and variety of forms. The genera and 

 species discovered and described by entomologists have 

 multiplied so rapidly that one wearies with the endeavor 

 to keep count thereof. Less than a century ago an 

 entomologist was one who had some knowledge of all 

 known insects. To-day he is one who has a good knowl- 

 edge of one order, or of a family within an order. No 

 mind could compass the whole realm of insect life with 

 scientific accuracy. Indeed, it has become impracticable 

 for any specialist thoroughly to cover the field in the 

 study of a single order, such as the Colceptera, confined 

 to the beetles; or the Lepidoptera, which embraces 

 moths and butterflies; or the Hymenoptera, which in- 

 cludes bees, ants, and wasps. 



In the last-named order there are (in round numbers) 

 thirty thousand known species; and a conservative esti- 

 mate of the total nmnber of species, known and unknown, 

 is three hundred thousand. We may infer from this 

 estimate of one order the vast aggregate of all the insect 

 species on our globe. One who even dimly apprehends 

 the direct influence of living creatures upon one another, 

 and their indirect influence through the relations of 

 animals to the waters, to the atmosphere, to the soil, 



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