Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-304).

Popularly written, informative account of the characteristics of some species of 6-legged insects including springtails, roaches, dragonflies, crickets, fireflies, butterflies, flies, bedbugs, locusts, and wasps. The universe as seen from a suburban porch -- Cities in the soil : the world of springtails -- The intellectual and emotional world of the cockroach -- Water lizards and aerial dragons -- The cricket as poet and pugilist -- In defense of magic : the story of fireflies -- Interlude in the Elysian Meadows : butterflies -- Paean to a volant voluptuary : the fly -- Bedbugs, cone-nosed bugs, and other cuddly animals -- Year of the locust -- Parasitic wasps, and how they made Peyton Place possible -- Of springs, silent and otherwise -- Is nature necessary?