4 ELEMENTARY ENTOMOLOGY 



and domestic economy of the honey-bee are proverbial, and new 

 observations are constantly showing the wonderful intelligence, if 

 it may be so called, evinced by many insects hitherto but little 

 known. No class of animals is more fascinating or better rewards 

 the study of the nature lover, as may be slightly appreciated from 

 the perusal of the habits described in succeeding pages. 



It may now be evident, in view of the immense preponderance 

 of species and individuals of insects in the animal kingdom, and 

 their important r61e in the economy of nature, that there is some 

 ground for describing the present as " the age of insects," though 

 the term is of course used from a purely biological standpoint. 



