PREFACE 



IN preparing this little 'volume my object has been to produce 

 a work written in a light enough vein to be entertaining to the 

 reader, however casually interested he may be in insect life, but 

 at the same time, one that is in every way scientifically accurate. 

 In the chapters which follow, I have endeavored to describe as 

 vividly as it lies within my power to do, various phases of insect 

 behavior which I have been fortunate enough to observe and record 

 during many years spent in active field work. 



Chapters II to VIII inclusive, treat exclusively of South American 

 insects, studied in the jungles of British Guiana, and while they are 

 interesting species, whose habits have heretofore remained un- 

 recorded, they possess no more wonderful life stories than our insects 

 of the Eastern States, whose habits, for the most part, make up the 

 remainder of this book. 



Wherever one searches in the world of insects there is something 

 new to be found. Perhaps only an unrecorded habit, or a slight 

 problem to be solved, yet each problem leads to another, and soon one 

 is led unconsciously into the depths of the study. Once in, there 

 appears to be no way out, and I for one do not wish to retrace my 

 steps to the freedom I knew before the fascination of this study laid 

 hold of me. 



If this book leads others into the world of insect study or, in some 



measure, brings home to the reader, the same fascination that these 



life stories hold for the author, then its object will be fully realized. 



For the use of chapters II to VIII inclusive, which originally 



appeared in Volume I of Tropical Wild Life in British Guiana, I am 



