INSECTS
primary veins; but, since the great specialty of insects is flight, in their evolution they have concentrated on the wings, and the different groups have tried out different styles of venation, with the result that now each is distinguished by some particular pattern in the arrangement of the veins and their branches. The entomologist can thus not only distinguish by their wing structure the various orders of insects, as the Orthoptera, the dragonflies, the moths, the bees, and the flies, but in
Fig. 53. Wings of a cockroach, Periplaneta, showing the vein pattern characteristic of the roach family
many cases he can identify families and even genera. Particularly are the wings of value to the student of fossil insects, for the bodies are so poorly preserved in most cases that without the wings the paleontologist could have made little headway in the study of insects of the past. As it is, however, much is known of insects of former times, and a study of their fossil remains has contributed a great deal to our knowledge of this most versatile and widespread group of animals.
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