BRITISH INSECTS 



seems enduring, but study of its features shows that it 

 changes from age to age, changes even more rapidly 

 than the insect-types which adorn it. Yet through the 

 long periods of the earth's history the insects have been 

 changing too ; and the form of their bodies, and the 

 history of their growth, teach us how to trace in some 

 degree the wondrous unfolding of their branch of the 

 great tree of life." {Insects, their Structure and Life.) 



We may now proceed to consider the various species 

 of insects included in each of the ten Orders already 

 scheduled, concentrating chief attention upon those 

 which are most likely to come under the reader's survey. 



ORDER I. AFTER A, OR SPRING-TAILS AND 



BRISTLE-TAILS 



Although, as has already been stated, there are som.e 

 two hundred British species in the first order of insects 

 with which we are here concerned, only the specialist is 

 interested in the more intimate details connected with 

 them, as, in the great world of insect-life, it is necessary 

 to specialise in certain groups in order to work out the 

 life-histories of the different species to any advantage. 

 It need only be mentioned, therefore, that, as a rule, the 

 Aptera are divided into two sub-orders, known as Col- 

 8 



