INDIAN INSECT LIFE. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The insects are tracheate, hexapodons arthropoda, with a distinct 
head bearing antennae, with a great degree of complexity in their devel¬ 
opment during which a series of moults are undergone, culminating in 
the appearance of functional generative organs and wings ; in the higher 
forms, the development is sharply divided into three distinct periods, 
the last of which is marked by the inactivity of the organism as a whole 
and the complete reorganisation undergone by the tissues ; they are 
essentially air-breathing animals, living on land, but some have become 
adapted to living in fresh water. The number of jointed legs separates 
them clearly from other tracheate Arthropods, just as the metamorpho¬ 
sis, the possession of wings and the form and the number of segments 
does. They are regarded as being most closely related to Peripatus of 
all present forms of life, and undoubtedly represent a great branch of 
the tree of life whose development equals, if not excels, that of any other 
branch. In numbers, in species, in all but one form of mentality, the 
insects are the dominant form of life on the land at the present time, but 
the limitations put on them are of such a nature that their dominance 
must remain within bounds and, unless man be removed, cannot be 
actual and entire. 
Insects are of all sizes from inch long to over six inches; their 
numbers are incalculable, the number of their species being put at about 
three millions; their lives are very short, (a week,) up to as long as over 
ten years, though rarely actually exceeding more than three years, and 
being in the larger number limited to an active life of less than three 
months. On the surface of the earth, as in fresh water, they are found 
wherever nutriment is available, even in the bodies of warm-blooded 
animals and man ; over the three-fourths of the earth’s surface covered 
by the sea they are practically non-existent, a very small number of 
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