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Arachnids (spider-like creatures), and Insects. The Arthropods 
are predominantly active, and very successful in the struggle 
for existence. More than half of all the animals in the world 
are Arthropods, and the Insects alone are more numerous than 
all the other animals put together. 
Insects, 
Thoughtless people are in the way of calling any small 
animal an insect, and perhaps most people would be quite 
sure that a spider should be so described. But a spider has 
eight legs, while an insect has never more nor less than six, 
and the insect has three well-marked divisions of the body— 
head, thorax and abdomen—while the spider has apparently 
only two divisions. All insects have antenne or feelers on 
their heads, very few are without wings, and all the higher 
types display in development a remarkable transformation or 
metamorphosis. 
Insect types are so extraordinarily numerous that we must 
divide the Class into smaller groups or Orders, each consisting 
of creatures more or less resembling each other. The Butter- 
flies and Moths (Lepidoptera) constitute one such Order, 
characterised by the possession of four wings covered with 
beautiful scales. The four wings of the bee are gauzy and 
transparent, so it is grouped with the Wasps, the Ants, the 
Saw-Flies, and the Ichneumon-Flies to form the Order of the 
Hymenoptera or membrane-winged insects. 
Bees. 
The Family of the Apide or Bees includes all Hymenoptera 
which collect honey and pollen, and perhaps even bee-keepers 
will be surprised to learn that, in addition to the honey bee 
(Apis), and the very familiar humble bee (Bombus), there are 
in Britain more than 200 species, which belong to the group 
of Solitary or non-social bees. Of these the burrowers are 
perhaps easiest to discover, for we can find them at work on 
sandy banks on any fine day in summer. Inside their burrows 
they make cells of a transparent material, like oiled-silk or 
