The evolution of the class Insecta

Abstract

The subject of this paper is one which is admittedly full of difficulty, yet at the same time one of the profoundest interest, viz., the Evolution of the Insects as a Class from some ancestral type which was not an Insect, but something more primitive in its general structure. In attempting this task, I must first of all classify and pass in review the various theories that have been advanced by famous Zloologists or entomologists to account for the origin of this Class, admittedly the highest development within the Phylum Arthropoda. Each main hypothesis will be examined on its merits and tested as to its validity. Having carried out this task, I then propose to state the position as it appears to me and to offer a new theory which attempts to embrace all the known facts of the case.