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Insects, Their Ways and Means of Living
Excerpt from Insects, Their Ways and Means of Living
The relation Of the germ cells and body Cells External structure of an insect Leg of a young grasshopper.
The relation Of the germ cells and body Cells External structure of an insect Leg of a young grasshopper.
- GenresScience
414 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1931
About the author
R.E. Snodgrass
73 books2 followersThe renowned morphologist, R. E. Snodgrass (1875–1962), taught entomology at the State College of Washington in Pullman, Stanford University (where he had graduated with a B.A.), and the University of Maryland, and worked in the Bureau of Entomology in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His many publications include the books Textbook of Arthropod Anatomy; Anatomy of the Honey Bee; Insects: Their Ways and Means of Living; and Principles of Insect Morphology.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 14, 2018
A wonderful book for anyone who likes nature in all its variety
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How would your life be different if your muscles attached not to your skeleton, but to your skin? What's inside the 'beak' of some insects? What's the point of having a larva so different than the adult and how did this situation come about? What's the best arrangement of wings? - the book explores these questions in a very loving way, providing reader with many illustrations.
It's a reprint of 1939 book, so the style is a bit old-timey, which is not at all a disadvantage. At the beginning I was a little bit put off by the occasional personification of nature ("Mother Nature" etc), but even after using such metaphors, the author reminds us about the indifference of natural processes and that we shouldn't attribute human qualities to insects or 'nature'.
The insects are described lovingly, with many vivid details and most importantly - with plenty of information about their anatomy and behavior. I'm not an entomologist, but the topic of insects is not completely foreign to me - however, this book provided me with a lot of new information.
Did you know that caterpillar has bases of the wings growing, but they are growing INSIDE it, and turn inside out later? Also, adult insect may need different organs than its larva, but in larval stage the future organs of the adult are kept as collections of cells (called 'imaginal discs') that come into effect later - and while developing, these cells consume tissues from larval stage that are not needed anymore?
Ok, not gonna spoil the book anymore. It's definitely worth reading if you want to know how much you don't know about insects (might not be very interesting to actual entomologists, though).
The only way this book could have been better, is that it could have included the current phylogenetic tree of the insects. But it's alright, you can just google it while reading!
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How would your life be different if your muscles attached not to your skeleton, but to your skin? What's inside the 'beak' of some insects? What's the point of having a larva so different than the adult and how did this situation come about? What's the best arrangement of wings? - the book explores these questions in a very loving way, providing reader with many illustrations.
It's a reprint of 1939 book, so the style is a bit old-timey, which is not at all a disadvantage. At the beginning I was a little bit put off by the occasional personification of nature ("Mother Nature" etc), but even after using such metaphors, the author reminds us about the indifference of natural processes and that we shouldn't attribute human qualities to insects or 'nature'.
The insects are described lovingly, with many vivid details and most importantly - with plenty of information about their anatomy and behavior. I'm not an entomologist, but the topic of insects is not completely foreign to me - however, this book provided me with a lot of new information.
Did you know that caterpillar has bases of the wings growing, but they are growing INSIDE it, and turn inside out later? Also, adult insect may need different organs than its larva, but in larval stage the future organs of the adult are kept as collections of cells (called 'imaginal discs') that come into effect later - and while developing, these cells consume tissues from larval stage that are not needed anymore?
Ok, not gonna spoil the book anymore. It's definitely worth reading if you want to know how much you don't know about insects (might not be very interesting to actual entomologists, though).
The only way this book could have been better, is that it could have included the current phylogenetic tree of the insects. But it's alright, you can just google it while reading!
May 7, 2024
Supremely delightful, I've recommended it to countless people, and forcibly narrated the opening paragraph to several. It is available for free online, I'd recommend anyone to at least browse the chapter titles for personal or timely interests. For example, I deeply enjoyed reading the chapter about cicadas as they appeared this summer.
September 18, 2013
This volume deals with insects from all over the world, their habits and habitats. Much was known about insects prior to and after WW1 and this book relates the state of the art at that time. A great read, but very difficult to find.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews