The Integument of Arthropods was first published in 1951. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.
This critical monograph presents a review and synthesis of the literature on the chemical, physical, and biological aspects of the integument of arthropod animals. The volume covers and collates material published through 1949 on the chemical and physical properties, the structure and development, and the permeability of the integument of insects, crustacea, and their relatives. There is, in addition, an indexed bibliography of some 1800 references, and a subject index.
The first section treats the physical and chemical properties of the entire cuticle and the cuticular components. In the second section, the structure and development of the integument are traced, with a classification of recognizable subdivision, and separate chapters on molting and specialized structures. The third section takes up the problems of permeability with emphasis on the complexity and relative scarcity of valid data on the subject.
Most of the references in the bibliography relate directly to the material presented, but references to similar phenomena or structures found in other groups of organisms or in artificial models are included. To facilitate independent use of the bibliography, each reference is followed by a list of the pages where the article is cited.
Fourteen tables and over two hundred line drawings, diagrams, and photomicrographs, grouped into 65 text figures, show chemical configurations, representative structural details, and properties.
The book provides a much needed reference work for entomologists and those working in related fields of zoology, chemistry, biochemistry, insect physiology, and ecology.