Entomology

“ The philosophic study of entomology, however, requires much more than the mere collecting of specimens, and one of the most profitable and, at the same time, most fascinating phases of the study relates to the life-history and habits. In no branch of natural history are biologic studies more easily carried on, or the biologic facts more remarkable or interesting. ”

“ The freshness, the air of leisure, the enthusiasm of discovery that mark the work of these old writers have lessons for the modern professional zoologist, who at times feels burdened with the accumulated knowledge of a century and a half. From the end of the 18th century until the present day, it is only possible to enumerate the outstanding features in the progress of entomology. ”

“ As far as I am a judge, nothing would recommend entomology more than some neat plates that should well express the generic distinctions of insects according to Linnæus; for I am well assured that many people would study insects, could they set out with a more adequate notion of those distinctions than can be conveyed at first by words alone. ”

“ To study living entomology, that is, to study the insect living its life and in the [313] highest manifestations of its life, in its instincts and its habits, in its aptitudes and its passions, in a word, in its psychic faculties; to replace the dominant standpoint of morphology and physiology by the standpoint of biology and psychology; such is the essential programme of the writer of the Souvenirs. ”

“ To take a general view of the instincts in their inexhaustible variety is, for the observer, the great attraction of the entomological world, for nowhere do we gain a clearer sight of the wonderful way in which the processes of life are ordered. Thus regarded, entomology is not, I know, to the taste of everybody; the simple creature absorbed in the doings and habits of insects is held in low esteem. To the terrible utilitarian, a bushel of peas preserved from the weevil is of more importance than a volume of observations which bring no immediate profit. ”

“ To realize to what a degree entomology affects agriculture, horticulture, and all earth products, we must know that naturalists like Latreille, the Comte Dejean, Klugg of Berlin, Gene of Turin, etc., find that the vast majority of all known insects live at the sacrifice of vegetation ”

“ Each fibre of the fringe that edges the wings is a prism, and even the slender antennæ are covered with golden feathers. Words cannot describe the wondrous beauty of this creature.
Methinks a view of these earthly creatures can the better enable one to appreciate the ineffable glories of the heavenly beings. Even the earth-insect is beautiful beyond the power of words to describe—how much more so the heavenly angel!
When the study of entomology first rose to the dignity of a science, it was found necessary that each insect should be distinguished by a definite title. ”

“ In the history of the science, various lines of progress have to be traced. While some observers have studied in detail the structure and life-history of a few selected types (insect anatomy and development) , others have made a more superficial examination of large series of insects to classify them and determine their relationships (systematic entomology) , while others again have investigated the habits and life-relations of insects (insect bionomics) . During recent years the study of fossil insects (palaeoëntomology) has attracted much attention. ”

“ The Handbook of Medical Entomology is the outgrowth of a course of lectures along the lines of insect transmission and dissemination of diseases of man given by the senior author in the Department of Entomology of Cornell University during the past six years. ”

“ There are few departments of entomology more worthy of the attention of travellers in foreign countries than that now under consideration. Scarcely any will supply them with a greater number of new objects, or afford a wider field for interesting observation. The history of a large proportion of the moths of which we possess figures and descriptions in the perfect state, is entirely unknown to us. The appearance of the larva, its habits, food, metamorphoses, &c. ”

“ Ornithology and entomology are the studies which now impel most field-work, and for actual observations the followers of the first science appear to almost excel those of the second, a conclusion hitherto scarcely suspected—at least by the writer.
There are many invertebrates which are practically ignored in our pages. ”

“ That this is no hyperbole, and that entomology may be made a factor in the welfare of our commercial life, is proved by the notices of her death in papers which have reached us, not only such as represent the agricultural interest, but others bearing such names as 'Mark Lane Express,' ' Meat Trades Journal,' ' Boot and Shoe Trades Journal,' &c. She may be said to have consecrated the study of insects in the economic and commercial instincts of our national life. ”

“ A comparison of the entomology of the old world and the new, shows that the genera and species of insects are for the most part peculiar to the localities in which they are found. Birds and marine animals, although unrestricted in their movements, seldom wander far from specific centres. ”

“ During the spring months great quantities of little stick insects may be noticed on the parasitic ferns covering the tree stems in the forest; they are curious little animals, their antics when simulating inanimate twigs being often most amusing, and if the reader wishes to investigate a comparatively untouched branch of entomology he cannot do better than keep a number of these until mature, when he will doubtless contribute much to our scanty knowledge of this curious family. ”

“ It has been thought curious that a lady should take up agricultural entomology and not only dabble in the science, but practically make it her own, as Miss Ormerod has done, so far as this country is concerned. ”

“ It will consist of all the useful insects and their productions, and of the noxious insects, and specimens of the injury they do. Each species is to be shown, when possible, in its several stages of egg, larva, chrysalis, and perfect insect. The exhibition will be under the auspices of the Central Society of Agriculture and Entomology. ”

“ But few words are necessary to indicate the importance of entomology, especially to the farming community; for while insects play a most important part in the economy of nature and furnish us some valuable products and otherwise do us a great deal of indirect good, yet they are chiefly known by the annoyances they cause and by the great injury they do to our crops and domestic animals. Hence some knowledge of insects and how to study them becomes important, almost necessary, to every [7] farmer. ”

“ From quite early days in the study of Entomology it has been generally known that certain Insects in the perfection of their industry might almost be accepted as the prototypes of the human artificer. ”

“ Entomology might have been benefited by the addition of many new species, and years must transpire before so copious a collection will again reach Europe, for few men will be able to stand eleven months of this unhealthy climate. ”

“ The life of a winged insect, such as a butterfly, fly, or bee, may be divided into four stages: the embryo, or egg state, the larva, pupa, and imago,—the term metamorphosis being applied to the changes after birth, or post-embryonic stages of life. The transformations of the more specialized orders of insects involve wonderful changes of form, which are only paralleled in other types of animals by the metamorphoses of the echinoderms, of certain worms, and of the Crustacea, as well as by those of the frog. ”

“ The crustaceous and molluscous animals, which have ten feet, such as the Crab, Cray-fish, &c.
Digitate (L. digitus, a finger) . When a part supports processes like fingers.
Effete. Barren, worn out.
Elytra (Gr. elytron, a sheath) . The sheath or wing covers of coleopterous insects (Beetles) .
Entomostraca (Gr. entoma, insects; ostracon, a shell) . The order of small crustaceans, many of which are enclosed in an integument like a bivalve shell.
Entomology (Gr. entoma, insects; logos, a discourse) . The branch of science treating of insects.
Exuvium, Pl. exuviæ (L. exuo, I cast off) . ”

“ In the end the insects became, owing to this acquisition of wings, and afterwards to the establishment of a complicated metamorphosis, numerically the most successful type of life in existence, the number of species, extinct and living, mounting into the millions.
All aquatic insects are evidently the descendants of terrestrial forms, and the numberless contrivances and temporary larval organs, particularly of dipterous larvæ, are evidently adaptations to the needs of the insect during its aquatic life, and which are cast aside when the creature passes to a different medium. ”

“ Birds, fishes, and the smaller kinds of beasts, are at eternal war with them; but as all these would be insufficient of themselves to restrain and prevent them from multiplying too fast, other kinds of beings are instituted for this end, whose existence depends on their destruction. Of these, the species of insect I am describing, is the most singular, of which (genus) there are several sorts, differing greatly in size and shape. ”

“ By E. F. Staveley. Crown 8vo, 16 Plates, containing Coloured Figures of nearly 100 Species, and 40 Diagrams, showing the number and position of the eyes in various Genera, drawn expressly for the work by Tuffen West, and 44 Wood-Engravings, 10s. 6d.
Curtis's British Entomology. Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of Insects found in Great Britain and Ireland, containing Coloured Figures, from Nature, of the most rare and beautiful Species, and, in many instances, upon the plants on which they are found. 8 vols. ”

“ By altering the position of the insect so as to obtain profiles of transverse sections, or of the different parts of the body, and, further, by gluing very small paper slips to parts whose movements are hard to observe, the successive positions of the slips being then drawn, complete information is at last obtained of every detail of the respiratory movements; nothing is lost. ”

“ It is owing to the greater development of certain segments and the reduction of others, both of the body-segments and of the segments of the limbs, that we have the wonderful diversity of form in the species and genera, and higher groups of insects, as well as those of other arthropods. ”

“ The first requisite is a definition of what constitutes an INSECT.
An Insect is an articulate animal having the body divided into three distinct divisions, viz., the HEAD (Fig. I. A) , the THORAX (B) , and the ABDOMEN (C) . It is furnished with three pairs of legs, and generally has two pairs of wings, and to acquire this structure the creature passes through several changes, termed its metamorphoses. The head exhibits no distinct divisions, but bears the following appendages: the eyes, antennæ, and organs of the mouth, or trophi. ”

“ In instructing small classes in the anatomy and metamorphoses of insects, it was strongly felt that the mere dissection and drawing of a few types, comprising some of our common insects, were by no means sufficient for broad, thorough work. Plainly enough the laboratory work is all important, being rigidly disciplinary in its methods, and affording the foundation for any farther work. ”

“ Besides these, as the result of changes in the environment and nature of the food, we have the results brought about by the use or disuse of structures brought into existence by the action of stimuli from without, the class of insects abounding in examples of temporary structures which perform a certain function, and then disappear. ”

“ The aim has been to afford a broad foundation for future more special work by any one who may want to carry on the study of some group of insects, or to extend in any special direction our present knowledge of insect morphology and growth. ”

“ POSITION OF INSECTS IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM Although the insects form but a single class of the animal kingdom, they are yet so numerous in orders, families, genera, and species, their habits and transformations are so full of instruction to the biologist, and they affect human interests in such a variety of ways, that they have always attracted more attention from students than any other class of animals, the number of entomologists greatly surpassing that of ornithologists, ichthyologists, or the special students of any other class, while the literature has assumed immense proportions. ”

“ The analogy between the colours, the dispositions, and the qualities of insects, may yet be greater, and between insects, and the plants on which they feed, still more useful; for if an insect is found in one part of the world to feed on a plant useful in food, medicine, or manufactures, an insect of a similar appearance, in another part of the world, will in all probability be found to feed on a plant of similar virtues. We do not know but insects may affect, when perfect, to frequent different soils ”

“ While the insect fauna of European countries was investigated by local naturalists, the spread of geographical exploration brought ever-increasing stores of exotic material to the great museums, and specialization—either in the fauna of a small district or in the world-wide study of an order or a group of families—became constantly more marked in systematic work. ”

“ Insects form about four-fifths of the animal kingdom. There are about 250,000 species already named and contained in our museums, while the number of living and fossil species in all is estimated to amount to between one and two millions. ”