Chapter VIII Aquatic Insects 



WHEN one considers how insects, as far 

 as numbers are concerned, have domin- 

 ated the land it is rather surprising that 

 more have not invaded the waters. 

 Insects have shown themselves to be 

 capable of great adaptability since their 

 advancement from the primitive stock, 

 and one would have expected that this 

 faculty would have been instanced in 

 the invasion of the waters to a much 

 greater degree than is actually the case. 

 For various reasons, not to be gone into 

 here, insects have never exceeded a 

 length of eighteen inches, and it is 

 possible that size limit may be partially 

 responsible for this lack of enterprise. 

 Again, although terrestrial insects are 

 preyed upon to a considerable degree by 



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