INSECTS THAT CARRY LAMPS 330 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ =THE ROMANCE OF INSECT LIFE= ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER I “The natural system”—A middle course—Neuropterous insects—White ants and their ways—Kings and queens—A royal diet—Secondary majesties—Soldiers and workers—Ant invaders—Methods of warfare. 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,[1] 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.