ELEMENTS 



OF 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



CHAPTER I. 

 WHAT IS AN INSECT ? 



THE question with, which this Chapter is headed 

 may appear supererogatory to many, but it is never- 

 theless one the solution of which is necessary before 

 we can proceed further. The popular notion of what 

 is meant by the term ' insect ' is rather too vague to be 

 of much service in a scientific point of view, it is 

 capable of being stretched to almost any extent, so as 

 to include creatures of the most dissimilar nature, 

 when there is any occasion to bring them under a 

 common denomination. Thus even in works pro- 

 fessing to initiate their readers into the mysteries of 

 nature, the term insect may be seen applied indis- 

 criminately to Leeches, Snails, Limpets, and inver- 

 tebrated animals of almost all kinds ; and nothing is 

 more common than to see the name of coral-insects 

 given to the polype-architects of those wonderful 

 structures, which, in the tropical regions of the Pacific, 

 serve as the foundation and protection of multitudes of 

 fertile islands teeming with a happy population . More- 



