The Romance of Insect Life
9781465681416
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
IF there is any plan in this little book it will, no doubt, appear in time to its readers, but I myself am only quite clear as to this, that, not being of a scientific nature, it will not include a definition of an insect. Why should it? Everybody knows what he thinks an insect is, and those who may be willing to have their ideas on such a fundamental subject disturbed will rightly consult some work of greater authority than this can pretend to. So instead of worrying myself, and others, about what insects really are, or what are not really insects, as, for instance, spiders, centipedes, scorpions, and the like, all which I propose to include in my tale—should they happen to present themselves—I shall confine myself to saying something about what some insects do, and I shall let one suggest and lead to the discussion of another, quite at haphazard, and without any attempt at system or classification whatever. This, in fact, is my own idea as to what is “the natural system,” and the only trouble about it is knowing where to begin, because, as there are some 300,000 known insects, and any one of them will do as well to start from as any other, there is a great embarras de richesses. In such cases the usual thing to do is to take either the head or the tail of the series—to commence with the Hymenoptera, which include the highest and most intelligent forms, such as the ants and bees, or else with the Collembola or Thysanura, which are understood to contain the lowest. I shall not adopt either of these methods. The Neuroptera, as far as I can make out (and if they don’t it doesn’t matter), stand somewhere about the middle, and with them accordingly—as being between the two extremes—I decide to break ground. Having done so, as I said before, I may go anywhere—absolute freedom will be mine. Like Plato, I can follow the argument whithersoever it leads; inspired with which reflection I hasten to begin it. Though the order of neuropterous—which, by the way, means nerve-winged—insects does not contain any ants, yet the so-called white ants or termites—which are very like ants in their ways, and almost, or quite, as interesting to talk about—are included in it. They are commonest in tropical or, at any rate, very hot countries, such as Africa, Australia, and South America, and here the conical, or dome-shaped structures, made of red earth, which they erect above the surface of the ground, and which contain the greater part of the nest, are of such dimensions as to take a very prominent part in the features of the landscape. Often they are covered with vegetation, including bushes, or even small trees, on which, in Africa, antelopes are accustomed to browse. In Australia there is no reason, that I can see, why kangaroos should not, at least upon the grass which must often clothe them, and which is their staple of food.
