Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from On the History and Natural Arrangement of Insects
There are, however, certain prominent pecu liarities, belonging to annulose animals, which deserve the attention of every reader. The Annulosa' contain both the most intelligent and the minutest objects in the animal creation for, excepting the Infusoria, there are none smaller; and among winged insects we find those with the most highly developed instincts. It certainly appears strange, that beings whose form so widely differs from that of man, should neverthe less make a much nearer approach to his intellec tual superiority than any of the vertebrate animals. Not one of the latter, in fact, can be compared, in this respect, with the bee or the ant. Insects, again, are re. Markable for their tenacity of life. It is a well known fact, that in proportion to the complexity of animal structure, so does its sense of pain increase, and its capability to support injury diminish. Now as insects, from supplying food to so many others, are more de fenceless and exposed than vertebrate animals, so do we find that they are particularly tenacious of life; we con clude therefore, that their organisation, although perfect in itself, is much less complicated than in animals of a larger size. Being thus exposed to so many casualties, they are gifted with great activity and powers of locomo tion. They command two of the elements, and some times a third, for all inhabit the earth as much as the air, and several are likewise aquatic. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
