228 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
plies us with dyes; the bee gathers honey not alone for itself, but even more 
for the pleasure and profit of human beings; so, too, the fertilization of many 
forms of plant-life is dependent upon the agency of the insects, while much 
more efficient than city contracts is the scavenger work done by others of 
these creatures of an hour, who yet spend their brief span of life in the most 
continuous and useful activity, ministering to the wants of man even while 
subserving their own interests. When we shall have learned enough we shall 
be able to protect ourselves against the unconscious depredations of the locusts, 
grasshoppers, Hessian-flies, onion-flies, chinch-bugs, clothes-moths, weevils, 
potato-bugs, grape-vine louse and carpet-beetles. But the first step towards so 
desirable a consummation must be earnest and persistent study of works such 
as is here attempted. 
Not only is the student rewarded by the discovery of beauty so unsus¬ 
pected, so varied, and so exquisite as to pale the more pretentious ostentation 
of human skill, but he finds the most abundant and convincing proofs of an 
adaptation to environment and function in the world’s economy that he feels 
a profound sig¬ 
nificance when, 
in his devotions, 
he repeats “And 
all thy creatures 
praise Thee.” 
Co-ordination of 
structure, form 
and relation to 
the other ele- 
ments of the 
universe are 
brought home as 
a practical 
lesson in God’s 
providence which the most careless cannot but heed. No subject has greater human 
interest than the processes of development, and no field is more fruitful than 
that of entomology. With this brief reminder to the reader of the importance 
of this study, I will proceed to a description of the representative types of 
insect life, in which arrangement, even as to probable succession, is, however, 
impossible. 
The Myriapoda are so named because of their numberless feet; they 
embrace the centipedes , millepeds, and the thousand-legged worms. The mille- 
peds have a round or flattened body, feet close together and inserted in pairs 
upon each segment, except the first three. A comparison with fossil remains 
lends emphasis to the doctrines of natural selection and adaptation to changed 
conditions. The existing species are found almost solely in Illinois. 
The Pamopida mark distinctly the transition stage from the millepeds to 
the chilopoda or centipedes, and have therefore greater interest to the investi¬ 
gator. They pass cleanty lives amidst the dead and fallen leaves. They 
moult some nine times, and at each fresh moulting add a nfew segment and 
another pair of legs. ' Their evolution seems to suggest a link between plant 
and animal life. The centipedes move rapidly and are predatory in their 
harlequin spider. 
CROSS SPIDER 
(Epeira diademata). 
TONGUE WORM 
(Pentastomum denticulatum ). 
