About the book: 2006 / The book offered to the attention of readers can be considered an unofficial supplement to the zoology course. It does not present scientific information about invertebrate animals obtained by zoologists, but materials characterizing popular ideas about them, i.e. myths, legends, fairy tales and folklore (proverbs, sayings, riddles, anecdotes, etc.); it examines the symbolic meaning attributed to various invertebrates, the interpretation of their images in ancient dream books, and the interpretation of dreams by modern psychoanalysts. The book also contains fables and excerpts from fiction in which invertebrates are active characters. The final part discusses the popularity of various types of invertebrate animals in the sphere of human fantasy. As illustrations, copies of ancient and modern works of fine art, which are not too naturalistic, were used. The book contains 46 drawings, many of which are published for the first time.