Our insect friends and foes / by F. Martin Duncan.

  • F. Martin Duncan
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Our insect friends and foes / by F. Martin Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    history of the insect. Approached in such a manner, the study of insect life becomes filled with pleasure and interest, an interest that only deepens the further we carry our observations; for we must be dull indeed if we do not quickly realize how important is the part which environ- ment plays in the life of the insect, and yet at the same time that the insect forms only a part of that environment, a factor or link of more or less importance in the wonderful web of life. Working in this way, we shall the better be able to comprehend the true significance of the varied shapes, colours, and modification or elaboration of the structure of insects. While the museum specimen and technical text-book should only be used as works of reference, it is necessary that, without burdening ourselves with difficult and purely technical nomenclature, we should make ourselves as familiar as possible with the general anatomy of insects, and those most salient features that will enable us to recognize to which Order or Family the insect under our observation may belong. We should also know something, if it is only quite an outline, of the peculiarities of the transformations or metamorphosis through which insects typical of the different species pass. In the following pages I hope to be able to place such information before the reader in as simple and non-technical language as circumstances will permit. If we compare a Lobster, a Scorpion, a Centi- pede, a Beetle, and a Butterfly, we shall very easily realize that they are all connected together
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