BRITISH INSECTS 



Coleoptera 3,265 species ; Diptera 4,000 species ; Hyme- 

 noptera 5,000 species ; Lepidoptera 2,060 species ; 

 Mallophaga 150 species ; Neuroptera 228 species ; 

 Orthoptera 42 species ; Rhynchota i ,500 species ; and 

 Trichoptera 174 species, or, approximately, some 17,000 

 species in all. I have purposely arranged the foregoing 

 in alphabetical order, but to carry out one of the aims 

 of this series of Abbey Nature Books further, namely, to 

 convey some idea of the classification of British Animal 

 Life, it will be as well to follow up the alphabetical 

 sequence above given with the scientific one, indicating 

 briefly the kinds of insects each of the Ten Orders 

 contains, thus : — 



Order I (Aptera) is made up of the Bristle-Tails and 

 Spring-Tails, which are wingless insects passing through 

 no metamorphoses, the young (as in Spiders) resembling 

 the adult except in size. Other characteristics are re- 

 ferred to later, where we consider more fully the general 

 life-histories of the diflFerent species accorded a place in 

 this introductory handbook. 



Order II (Mallophaga) consists of Bird and Biting 

 Lice, which, to say the least, are not likely to be very 

 popularly regarded. These also are wingless creatures 

 which, as in the Aptera, undergo very little change in the 

 progress to maturity. 



Order III (Orthoptera) includes Cockroaches (so often 

 erroneously referred to as " Black Beetles "), Crickets, 

 Earwigs, and Grasshoppers, and it may here be men- 

 tioned that the curious Praying Mantis which adopts 

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