Excerpt from Our Common Insects: First Steps to Entomology Most insects undergo metamorphoses, or transfor mations, into three distinct stages: first, the larva, or grub, when they are most voracious, and Often commit great ravages in the vegetable world; secondly, the pupa, or torpid state, wherein they are inert, and do net feed; and, thirdly, the imago, or perfect insect, during which final period they prepagate the Species, eat very little, and seem to have the full enjoyment of their airy existence. It is a curious fact concerning these apparently insignificant beings, that they exceed in number all other classes of animals put together. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.