Knowledge of insects in the seventeenth century…

Knowledge of insects in the seventeenth century is to a great extent inherited from Aristotle.

According to this classical paradigm, insects are so insignificant they aren't worthy of the types of investigations done on fish, reptiles, and mammals.

Dutch biologist and microscopist Jan Swammerdam publishes his Algemeene Verhandeling van de bloedeloose dierkens, a groundbreaking work in microscopy as well as entomology, in 1669.

Much of Swammerdam's entomological work has been done to show that the difference between insects and the "higher" animals is one of degree, not kind.

Swammerdam is credited with the enhancement of the study of biology due to his work dissecting insects and studying them under microscopes.

Swammerdam's principal interest in this area is demonstrating that insects develop in the same gradual manner as other animals, in contrast to the notion of metamorphosis—the idea that different life stages of an insect (e.g., caterpillar and butterfly) represent a sudden change from one type of animal to another.

He has garnered evidence against this claim from his dissections.

By examining larvae, he has identified underdeveloped adult features in pre-adult animals.

For example, he noticed that the wings of dragonflies and mayflies exist prior to their final molt.

Swammerdam uses these observations to bolster his case for epigenesis in his 1669 publication, Historia Insectorum Generalis (The Natural History of Insects).

This work also includes many descriptions of insect anatomy.

It is here that Swammerdam reveals that the "king" bee has ovaries.

In addition to his research on metamorphosis, Swammerdam's entomological work stands out because he is among the first people to study insects in a systematized fashion (i.e., careful dissection, comparison of different species, and use of the microscope).

His anatomical and behavioral descriptions of bees, wasps, ants, dragonflies, snails, worms, and butterflies are major contributions to the nascent field of entomology.