Insect transformation / by George H. Carpenter.

  • George Herbert Carpenter
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Insect transformation / by George H. Carpenter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INSECT TRANSFORMATION CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AN observant rambler in field or woodland on a sum- mer day cannot fail to be struck by the variety and “^abundance of the insect life around him. Grass- hoppers chirp in the herbage at his feet, dragon-flies pursuing their prey swoop in rapid flight through the air ; butterflies flit and bees linger about the flowers ; while the rambler himself serves as a centre of attraction to hundreds of small flies, some of which probably try to feed on his blood. He need evince no surprise should he be told that the number of different kinds of insects exceeds by far that of all other groups of animals taken together; and if natural objects have any hold upon his thought, he can hardly fail to realize that the Insect World may furnish abundant material for studies of absorbing interest. Probably he knows that the hosts of delicately-formed winged creatures around him, have passed through a wonderful process of growth and change in the course of their short lives. At least he is well aware that the gaily-coloured butterfly, unable to bite and feeding on the nectar of blossoms, has developed from a crawling caterpillar which masticated leaves and devoured them in solid pieces. The honey-bee that also haunts the blossoms was once a soft grub, lying helpless and dependent in a waxen chamber of the comb. The flies that buzz around the intruder have come from a childhood passed as grubs or maggots in a vast variety of sheltered situations
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