THE ORDERS OF INSECTS. 



Insects differ very much in size ; the smallest insect known is 

 said to be a four-winged fly, the larva of which lives in the egg 

 of a parasite of a North American bee. This little creature has 

 beautifully formed wings, each of which resembles a single 

 feather. It measures one-ninetieth of an inch in length. Al- 

 though this is an American insect, yet we have several allied 

 species in this country, and need not despair of ultimately 

 meeting with a still smaller insect in England On the other 

 hand, some of the great tropical moths and locusts measure a 

 foot across the wings ; but we must be contented to regard the 

 Death's Head Hawk-Moth, which sometimes measures nearly 

 six inches across the wings, as our largest British insect. 



Many of our readers will perhaps think 12,000 a very large 

 number of different kinds of insects to be found in one country ; 

 but insects are by no means so abundant in England as in the 

 adjacent parts of the Continent, nor are they so destructive to 

 our crops. Islands are always poorer in plants and animals 

 than continents ; besides, when forests are cleared, and marshes 

 are drained, numbers of insects are destroyed, and those which 

 are confined to such localities are very likely to become exter- 

 minated. It is almost certain that a few centuries ago, when 

 England was covered with marsh and forest, many insects must 

 have been abundant which are now rarely or never met with. 

 In fact, several different kinds are known to have become extinct 

 in England within the memory of many entomologists now 

 living ; and if this is the case among large and conspicuous 

 insects, it must also have happened to many small and incon- 

 spicuous kinds without our being even aware of it. The south- 

 eastern counties having the finest and driest climate in the 

 islands, as well as being those nearest the Continent, produce 

 most species of insects. Insects are much less numerous in 

 Scotland and Ireland than in England, though these parts of the 

 kingdom produce some species not to be met with elsewhere in 

 the British Islands. Although nearly all our British insects are 

 at least as common on the Continent as with us (and often much 

 more so), yet there are a few species and varieties, generally 

 confined to very restricted localities, which have hitherto only 

 been met with on this side the water. 



These 12,000 different kinds of insects are divided into seven 

 large sections, called Orders. Some writers admit more, but 

 the seven great Orders are those which are universally recog- 

 nised, and the smaller ones are now generally treated as forming 

 part of the others. These date from the time of Linnseus, who 

 founded the modern system of classification, and are called 



