This excerpt is adaptation from The Life-Story of Insects, by Geo H. Carpenter.
Insects as a whole are preeminently creatures of the land and the air. This is shown not only by the possession of wings by a vast majority of the class, but by the mode of breathing to which reference has already been made, a system of branching air-tubes carrying atmospheric air with its combustion-supporting oxygen to all the insect's tissues. The air gains access to these tubes through a number of paired air-holes or spiracles, arranged segmentally in series.
It is of great interest to find that, nevertheless, a number of insects spend much of their time under water. This is true of not a few in the perfect winged state, as for example aquatic beetles and water- bugs ('boatmen' and 'scorpions') which have some way of protecting their spiracles when submerged, and, possessing usually the power of flight, can pass on occasion from pond or stream to upper air. But it is advisable in connection with our present subject to dwell especially on some insects that remain continually under water till they are ready to undergo their final moult and attain the
winged state, which they pass entirely in the air. The preparatory instars of such insects are aquatic; the adult instar is aerial. All may-flies, dragon-flies, and caddis-flies, many beetles and two- winged flies, and a few moths thus divide their life-story between the water and the air. For the present we confine attention to the Stone-flies, the May-flies, and the Dragon-flies, three well-known orders of insects respectively called by systematists the Plecoptera, the Ephemeroptera and the Odonata.
In the case of many insects that have aquatic larvae, the latter are provided with some arrangement for enabling them to reach atmospheric air through the surface-film of the water. But the larva of a stone-fly, a dragon-fly, or a may-fly is adapted more completely than these for aquatic life; it can, by means of gills of some kind, breathe the air dissolved in water.
Which definition most closely relates to the usage of the word moult in the passage?
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: The definition that most closely relates to the usage of the word 'moult' in the passage is the act of shedding part or all of the outer shell. The passage mentions how some insects remain under water until they are ready to undergo their final moult and attain the winged state. This process involves shedding their old skin or exoskeleton to transition from the aquatic larval stage to the aerial adult stage. Choices A, B, and D are incorrect because they do not align with the specific context provided in the passage. Choice A talks about an adventure underwater, which is unrelated to the biological process of moulting. Choice B refers to a mating act between insects, which is not the focus of the passage. Choice D discusses the death of an organism leading to a revival of life, which is not connected to the moulting process described in the passage.
Nokea