In the book's forward, E.O. Wilson writes about the world revealed in the moment you turn over a rock:

"You see spiderlings and sundry pale unknowns of diverse form slinking through mats of fungus strands. Tiny beetles hide from the sudden light, and pill bugs curl their bodies into defensive balls."

• Common Name: Flea beetle
• Family: Chrysomelidae, subfamily: Alticini
• Size: 0.47" (1.2 cm)
• Location: Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, Costa Rica