The Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Common Insects, by Alpheus Spring Packard

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Title: Our Common Insects
A Popular Account of the Insects of Our Fields, Forests,
Gardens and Houses

Author: Alpheus Spring Packard

Release Date: January 23, 2008 [EBook #24409]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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OUR COMMON INSECTS.

[Illustration: AMERICAN SILK WORM (MALE).]

OUR

COMMON INSECTS.

A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE INSECTS

OF OUR

Fields, Forests, Gardens and Houses.

Illustrated with 4 Plates and 268 Woodcuts.

BY

A. S. PACKARD, JR.,

Author of "A GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF INSECTS."

SALEM.
NATURALISTS' AGENCY.
BOSTON: Estes & Lauriat. NEW YORK: Dodd & Mead.
1873.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by
F. W. PUTNAM & CO.,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

PRINTED AT
THE SALEM PRESS,
F. W. PUTNAM & CO.,
Proprietors.

DEDICATION.

TO SAMUEL H. SCUDDER.

MY DEAR SCUDDER:--You and I were drawn together many years ago by a
common love for insects and their ways.

I dedicate this little volume of ephemeral essays to you in recognition
of your worth as a man and a scientist, and as a token of warm
friendship.

Yours sincerely,

A. S. PACKARD, JR.

PREFACE.

This little volume mainly consists of a reprint of a series of essays
which appeared in the "American Naturalist" (Vols. i-v, 1867-71). It is
hoped that their perusal may lead to a better acquaintance with the
habits and forms of our more common insects. The introduction was
written expressly for this book, as well as Chapter XIII, "Hints on the
Ancestry of Insects." The scientific reader may be drawn with greater
interest to this chapter than to any other portion of the book. In this
discussion of a perhaps abstruse and difficult theme, his ind