Produced by Justin Kerk, Laura Wisewell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature THE LIFE-STORY OF INSECTS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS London: FETTER LANE, E.C. C.F. CLAY, MANAGER [Illustration] Edinburgh: 100, PRINCES STREET London: H.K. LEWIS, 136, GOWER STREET, W.C. WILLIAM WESLEY & SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO. Leipzig: F.A. BROCKHAUS New York: G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. [Illustration: _Frontispiece._ Transformation of a Gnat (_Culex_). Magnified 5 times. A. Larva. (The head is directed downwards and the tail-siphon with spiracle points upwards to the surface of the water.) B. Pupal Cuticle from which the Imago is emerging. (The pair of 'respiratory trumpets' on the thorax of the pupa are conspicuous. The wings of the Imago are crumpled, and the hind feet are not yet withdrawn.) C. Adult Gnat. Female.] [Illustration] THE LIFE-STORY OF INSECTS BY GEO. H. CARPENTER Professor of Zoology in the Royal College of Science, Dublin Cambridge: at the University Press New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1913 Cambridge: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS With the exception of the coat of arms at the foot, the design on the title page is a reproduction of one used by the earliest known Cambridge printer John Siberch 1521 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