Chapter I: Preface

The object of this little book is to afford an outline sketch of the facts and meaning of insect-transformations. Considerations of space forbid anything like an exhaustive treatment of so vast a subject, and some aspects of the question, the physiological for example, are almost neglected. Other books already published in this series, such as Dr Gordon Hewitt's _House-flies_ and Mr O H. Latter's _Bees and Wasps_, may be consulted with advantage for details of special insect life-stories. Recent researches have emphasised the practical importance to human society of entomological study, and insects will always be a source of delight to the lover of nature. This humble volume will best serve its object if its reading should lead fresh observers to the brookside and the woodland.

G.H.C.

DUBLIN,

_July_, 1913.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. Introduction 1

II. Growth and Change 8

III. The Life-stories of some Sucking Insects 16

IV. From Water to Air 23

V. Transformations, Outward and Inward 35

VI. Larvae and their Adaptations 49

VII. Pupae and their Modifications 79

VIII. The Life-story and the Seasons 89

IX. Past and Present--the Meaning of the Story 105

Outline Classification of Insects 122

Table of Geological Systems 123

Bibliography 124

Index 129

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Stages in the Transformations of a Gnat _Frontispiece_

FIG PAGE 1. Stages of the Diamond-back Moth (_Plutella 3 cruciferarum_)

2. Head of typical Moth 5

3. Head of Caterpillar 5

4. Common Cockroach (_Blatta orientalis_) 12

5. Nymph of Locust (_Schistocera americana_) 13

6. _Aphis pomi_, winged and wingless females 19

7. Mussel Scale-Insect (_Mytilaspis pomorum_) 21

8. Emergence of Dragon-fly (_Aeschna cyanea_) 29-31

9. Nymph of May-fly (_Chloeon dipterum_) 33

10. Imaginal buds of Butterfly 39

11. Imaginal buds of Blow-fly 43

12. Carrion Beetle (_Silpha_) and larva 51

13. Larva of Ground-beetle (_Aepus_) 52

14. Willow-beetle (_Phyllodecta_) and larva 53

15. Cabbage-beetle (_Psylliodes_) and larva 54

16. Corn Weevil (_Calandra_) and larva 55

17. Ruby Tiger Moth (_Phragmatobia fuliginosa_) 61

18. Larvae and Pupa of Hive-bee (_Apis mellifica_) 65

19. Larva of Gall-midge (_Contarinia nasturtii_) 68

20. Crane-fly (_Tipula oleracea_) and larva 69

21. Maggot of House-fly (_Musca domestica_) 71

22. Ox Warble-fly (_Hypoderma bovis_) with egg,
larva, and puparium 75

23. Pupa of White Butterfly (_Pieris_) 85