This book is an attempt to understand the nature of insects, with emphasis on searching out the
possible evolutionary pathways that have led to modern forms. Arthropods other than insects are treated in greater detail than a student of entomology usually encounters. If this book espouses any particular conclusions, they happen to be the ones that in the author's opinion seem to offer the best compromise. The principal thesis of the book is that the phylum Arthropoda represents a group that has arisen only once, all the members of which have descended from an unknown common ancestor that
has given rise to no other creature. |
