The World of Life; A Manifestation of Creative Power, Directive Mind and Ultimate Purpose

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 edition. Excerpt: ... To show the vast numbers and variety of the insect tribes, I give here the approximate numbers of actually described insects, kindly furnished me by Mr. C. O. Waterhouse of the Entomological Department of the Natural History Museum. Insect. of the World. NumbeSpeciMe,Crib*d Coleoptera (Beetles) 120,000 Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies) f 60,000 Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, Ants, etc.) 45,000 Diptera (Flies, Gnats, Midges, etc.) 28,000 Rhynchota (Bugs, Cicadas, etc.) 18,000 Orthoptera (Locusts, Crickets, etc.) 8,000 Neuroptera (Dragon-flies, May-flies, etc.) 5,000 Several smaller Orders 5,000 Land Area, 48,000,000 square miles 240,000 If we consider that large areas of the most productive tropical regions are still almost unexplored by the entomologist, and that even in the best-known parts the less attractive groups are very little known, it is almost certain that the actual number of species of insects now in existence is double that above given, while it may be three or four times as many. To show how difficult it is to ascertain how many species of insects are now known to exist, I give another recent estimate by Mr. A. E. Shipley, F. R. S., in his Presidential Address to the Zoological Section of the British Association in 1909. This was based upon a careful estimate by Dr. Giinther, in 1881, when Keeper of Zoology in the British Museum. His estimate then was 220,150 species of insects. In the twenty-seven succeeding years, the Zoological Record gives the number of new species described in all parts of the world. During the whole of this time the numbers described have increased year by year, and Mr. Shipley has therefore taken the number for the year 1897 as an average of the whole (8364 n.s.), and multiplying this by 27 (allowing...