Early stop-motion with real insect characters

Above is a still from an early silent era stop-motion film made by the filmmaker Władysław Starewicz in 1912. Below is the film, called "The Cameraman's Revenge."

The stop-motion puppet actors are made from real insects, including a beetle, a dragonfly, and a grasshopper. 

This is just one of several strange pioneering stop-motion films. See some others at the Smithsonian blog