The classification of insects into various orders is based on the presence or absence of wings and their venation, type of mouth parts, type of metamorphosis and characteristics of antennae and tarsi. The class Insecta has two subclasses, Apterygota, the primitive wingless insects, and Pterygota, insects with wings (although some of them may be secondarily apterous). Initially, there were 29 [...]
The eggs in insects have less food materials than those in birds and reptiles. Therefore, unlike birds, the young ones of insects emerge at an early stage of development and are much smaller than, and quite different in body shape, from the adults. Moreover, the young have a covering of inflexible exoskeleton which they have to shed a number of [...]
Insects are collected by nets and are killed with potassium cyanide gas slowly released in a capped wide mouth jar. Insects can be mounted and preserved in various ways. Most specimens are pinned, and, once dried, will keep indefinitely. Specimens too small to pin can be mounted on "points," on tiny "minuten" pins or on microscope slides. Large and showy [...]