Insects in Lewis Carroll’s Alice books appear in varying roles. The bee is inferior, prone to vice, as in two parodies of Isaac Watts’ C18th verse How doth the little busy bee/ Improve each shining hour…. In Alice in Wonderland (1865) this becomes How doth the little crocodile/Improve its shining tail. The busyness of the bee turns into crocodile greed, relating to the Victorian concept of Mammonism (Thomas Carlyle). In an earlier parody by Ockside and Doesticks (1856) the bee becomes a member of the Elephant Club in New York going for a binge at a public house How doth the little busy bee/Improve each shining house. His trunk serves as a proboscis in common with the elephant bee in Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

The Wonderland Caterpillar addresses Alice as her superior. His butterfly destiny points to metamorphosis in keeping with Alice’s constant shape-shifting. A pupa with wings folded away inside could serve as a metaphor for imminent female puberty. Yet Alice’s transformation into a serpent-like being following the Caterpillar’s advice to nibble his mushroom brings her closer to his status as a dangerous worm. Her metamorphosis into a mature girl is stalled as she herself becomes monstrous.

The Good, the Bad & the Monstrous:
Insects in Mythology, Literature & Media
Part II Lecture Theatre, Department of Zoology
New Museum Site, Cambridge
Symposium, Thursday, 20. November 2025