INTRODUCTION. 



knowledge that the superior race would 

 be hard put to it to find sustenance on 

 this planet of ours were some of our 

 insect friends to disappear off the face of 

 it to-morrow. Huxley long ago showed 

 that those tiny insects the Green Blights, 

 which infest our rose trees and chrysan- 

 themums (and many other plants in the 

 world) would, if left unchecked by pre- 

 daceous and parasitic insects, soon eat 

 mankind off the face of this earth which 

 he is so often apt to consider made 

 expressly for his own delectation. 



And it must be remembered 

 that all insects are not abhor- 

 rent to man. Beauty in the 

 insect world, it will be admitted 

 by all, exists. The wonderfully 

 brilliant Butterfly softly float- 

 ing in the golden sunlight on 

 shining gorgeously-coloured 

 diaphanous wing has been 

 sung of poets, painted of artists, 

 and admired by the mere 

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