ABSTRACT
Insects come in all shapes and forms. Some small beetles can crawl through the eye of a needle. Some "stick insects" of the tropics measure one third of a meter long. The insect that has been an out-in-front favorite of people at all periods is the ubiquitous grasshopper–the "grasshopper" being an umbrella term that includes crickets and other kindred creatures such as wild locusts. There are roughly twice as many different sorts of insects as there are all other forms of life combined. So abundant are insects, not only in species but in overall numbers, that their total weight far surpasses that of all other creatures on our planet. Insects offer much scope for "farming," in terms of their capacity to generate progeny. Consider a single pair of North American house-flies. Insects are mere invertebrates without the same physical appurtenances and behavioral diversity that characterize higher creatures such as mammals and other vertebrates.
