INSECT LIFE 
CREATURES THAT FIRST PEOPLED THE FLOWERS AND THE FORESTS. 
HE subsidence of the waters prepared the way for 
reptilian life, as we have seen, and there afterwards 
succeeded other conditions preparatory to new forms 
of life. The growth of forests and flowers was fol¬ 
lowed by the appearance of an infinite number and 
variety of insect life, which exhibit the most mar¬ 
vellous adaptations to the conditions of the animals 
which preceded and were to follow in an unbroken 
ascending series. 
Proceeding from lower to higher, from the deni¬ 
zens of the world in its earliest stages to their 
successors in more modem times (which shows in 
the natural times a progress no less great nor less surprising than in the 
world of human society), we have now reached the highest order of the 
invertebrates. Air, land and water are filled with these wonderful creatures 
-which are too often neglected because of their seeming insignificance or 
because of the unconscious ignorance of man. To the insects the Creator has 
given an infinite variety of form, the most varied coloring, the most diverse 
offices. They offer an accessible and ever-varied field for the study of the 
wonders of creation, and are more closely related to human interests than the 
uninformed would suspect. To the student of Natural History, nature is no 
longer confined to speaking through landscapes, but becomes instinct with the 
most varied, the most marvellous, the most interesting life. Whether as a 
further stimulus to an intelligent appreciation of the wonders of creation, as 
an occupation for time which cannot be used in satisfying the direct needs 
of daily life, or as the means of protecting ourselves against pecuniary 
loss and of adding to our own and to others’ wealth and comfort, the path 
of entomology promises to be a direct road to our goal. Insects have be¬ 
come articles of commerce (as the Spanish fly used medicinally, and the 
beetle used for personal adornment); they protect us from the ravages of 
pests that destroy our crops and gardens (as the potato beetle, the grass¬ 
hopper, the locust); they act as scavengers, and at least decrease the impurity 
of the atmosphere (as the mosquito and the fly); they exhibit many of the 
transformations through which life passes in its progress from a lower to a 
higher form; they exhibit the careful provision made that the tiny being may 
adjust itself to its environment; they inculcate many a lesson, such as that 
taught Bruce by the persistent spider; they have inspired many a well-known 
(226) 
