INSECTS: THEIR LIFE-HISTORIES 



AND HABITS 



CHAPTER I 



THE DOMINANT INSECT 



Many people call every small creeping thing an insect, 

 but this is incorrect. A bat, though it flies in the air, is 

 not a bird ; a whale, though it swims in the sea, is not 

 a fish ; nor is an animal necessarily an insect because it 

 creeps and is small. In other words, insects display cer- 

 tain peculiarities which mark them off from all other 

 animals ; and with these we must first deal by way of 

 introduction. Perhaps the easiest way to recognise an 

 insect at sight is to count its legs. All insects have six 

 legs, neither more nor less, although some young insects, 

 called caterpillars, which pass their days clinging to wind- 

 rocked leaves and twigs, possess in addition certain fleshy 

 appendages termed claspers or prolegs. But these are 

 mere temporary supports, provided to meet a special con- 

 tingency. They disappear ere their owners become adult, 

 and in no way alter the fact that insects are a six-legged 

 race. Another peculiarity of the typical insect is its pos- 

 session of wings — sometimes two, more often four. In 

 its capacity for flight the insect is alone among inverte- 

 brate animals. Thus, by applying the wing and leg test, 

 it becomes a simple matter to pick out an insect from such 

 questionable creatures as spiders, crabs, and centipedes. 

 As a spider has eight legs, a crab ten, and a centipede a 



