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diff --git a/18790.txt b/18790.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..207ad48 --- /dev/null +++ b/18790.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6661 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Insect Folk, by Margaret Warner Morley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Insect Folk + +Author: Margaret Warner Morley + +Release Date: July 8, 2006 [EBook #18790] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INSECT FOLK *** + + + + +Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + The Insect Folk + + BY + + MARGARET WARNER MORLEY + + + AUTHOR OF "SEED-BABIES," "FLOWERS AND THEIR FRIENDS" + "LITTLE WANDERERS," ETC. + + _ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR_ + + + + BOSTON, U.S.A. + GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS + 1903 + + COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY + MARGARET WARNER MORLEY + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + +A WORD TO THE CHILDREN + + +DEAR CHILDREN,--The very best way to know the insects is to go +and watch them. Watch them whenever you can, and each time you will find +out something new. Books will help you, but you must watch, too. Look +more than you read. + +If you need to catch them, put them under a tumbler, and feed them and +give them a drop of water every day to drink. Slip a card under the rim +of the tumbler on one side so as to let in the air. If you do not know +what to feed them, or if they will not eat, let them go after a day or +two. + +If you wish to kill an injurious insect, do it _quickly and completely_. +Remember the insects are alive, and we should not make them suffer +unnecessarily. + +Of course you must try to make your captives feel at home. If they live +in the sand, put sand in the tumbler and tie a piece of netting over the +top so they cannot escape. + +If they live in the water, put them in a tumbler of water. And when you +have secured your captives, watch them as much as you can. + +If you do not know how to pronounce the words in this book, study the +glossary at the back and it will help you. + +I hope you will have a very happy time getting acquainted with your +little insect neighbors. + + MARGARET WARNER MORLEY. + + BOSTON, + April 18, 1903. + + + + + CONTENTS + PAGE + + OUR PRETTY DRAGON FLIES 3 + + THE FAIRY MAY FLIES 25 + + THE STONE FLY FOLK 33 + + THE SILVER FISH 36 + + THE OLD COCKROACHES 41 + + NEIGHBOR WALKING STICK 52 + + THE GRASSHOPPER TRIBES 59 + + THE SHORTHORNED GRASSHOPPERS 61 + + THE LONGHORNED GRASSHOPPERS 81 + + PRETTY KATYDIDS 94 + + THE CRICKET-LIKE GRASSHOPPERS 99 + + THE CHEERY CRICKET PEOPLE 101 + + A LARGE FAMILY 107 + + THE GREAT BUG FAMILY 115 + + THE WATER BOATMAN 116 + + THE FUNNY BACK-SWIMMERS 124 + + THE GIANT WATER BUG 125 + + LITTLE MRS. SHORE BUG 127 + + THE AIRY WATER STRIDERS 127 + + A QUEER FELLOW 129 + + THE WELL DRESSED LACE BUG 132 + + A BAD BUG 133 + + THE TROUBLESOME RED BUG 135 + + THE RAVENOUS CHINCH BUGS 138 + + THE WELL PROTECTED STINK BUG 139 + + THE LOUSE 142 + + BIRD LICE AND BOOK LICE 142 + + FRIEND CICADA 143 + + THE ODD SPITTLE INSECT 152 + + PRETTY LEAF HOPPERS 154 + + THE COMICAL TREE HOPPERS 157 + + THE JUMPING PLANT LICE 157 + + THE APHIDS 158 + + SCALE BUGS 165 + + THE HORNED CORYDALUS 175 + + FAIRY LACEWING 183 + + THE ANT LION 187 + + THE LITTLE CADDICE FLIES 190 + + + + + ~ODONATA~ + + ~EPHEMERIDA~ + + ~PLECOPTERA~ + + ~THYSANURA~ + +[Illustration] + + + + +OUR PRETTY DRAGON FLIES + + +Come, children; come with me. + +Come to a pond I know of. + +See how the water shines in the sun. + +Over there is an old log lying on the edge of the pond. + +It is covered with green moss, and a green frog is sitting on one end of +it. + +Let us go and sit on the other end. + +Goop! he says, and--plump! he has jumped into the water. + +That is too bad, frog; we did not mean to disturb you. + +How pretty it is here! + +See the pickerel weed growing out in the water with its arrow-shaped +leaves, and its spikes of purple flowers. + +See, down in the water are little fish, and very likely pollywogs are +there too, and lots of queer little things. + +But who is this darting over the pond? + +Ah, we know you. + +You are our queer little, dear little old dragon fly. + +Look, children; see the dragon flies darting about like flashes of light +in every direction. + +They are having such a good time. + +Whizz! One flashed right past Mollie's ear. + +[Illustration] + +Pretty people, I wish one of you would come and sit by us a little +while, so we could get a good look at you. + +What is that, Ned? You have found a large one lying on the ground? + +Sure enough; it is a beauty too, with a green body and silver wings. + +Something seems to be wrong with it; it does not fly nor try to get +away. + +What a big one it is! + +My! my! what eyes! + +Don't crowd, Amy; let little Nell see too. + +What is that you say, Richard? "It catches mosquitoes and gnats and +flies and other insects while flying." + +Yes, and that is why it has such big eyes. We should need big eyes +ourselves if we were to spend our time chasing mosquitoes. + +Two eyes you have, little dragon fly, like the rest of us, but your eyes +are not like ours. + +No, indeed! + +Each of your big eyes is made up of a great many small eyes packed close +together. + +Do you know, children, that some of the largest of the dragon flies have +as many as twenty thousand facets, or small eyes, in each large eye? + +Think of it! Forty thousand eyes in one little dragon fly head. It +_ought_ to see well. + +These facets are six-sided, excepting those along the edge, which are +rounded on the outside. You cannot see their real shape without a +microscope, they are so small. But here is a picture of some facets as +they look under the microscope. + +[Illustration] + +Eyes like these, made up of many facets, we call compound eyes. + +All grown-up insects have compound eyes, though not many have as large +ones as the dragon fly. + +Only insects that chase other insects or that need to see in the dark +have very large eyes. + +See what a big mouth the dragon fly has. Its jaws do not show unless it +opens its lower lip, which fits over its mouth like a mask. + +I should not care to have it bite my finger. + +It could not hurt very much, and its bite is not poisonous, still I +shall handle it carefully. + +Some call the dragon fly a darning needle, and say it sews up people's +ears when they lie on the grass. This is not true. It does not sew up +anything. It has nothing to sew with. + +[Illustration] + +Why should it want to sew up people's ears, anyway? + +It does nothing unpleasant but bite fingers, and it never goes out of +its way to do that. + +If we let it alone, it always lets us alone. + +It is our good friend because it catches mosquitoes. For this reason it +is sometimes called mosquito hawk. + +We should never kill a dragon fly. + +Sometimes it is called a spindle, I suppose because it is long and +slender like a spindle. + +Down South the colored people believe the dragon fly brings dead snakes +to life, and they call it snake doctor. + +In some places it is called snake feeder. + +But it has nothing to do with snakes, dead or alive. + +The French have given it a pretty name, _demoiselle_, or damsel fly, and +that is quite deserved, for the dragon fly is a graceful little +creature, as pretty as pretty can be. + +[Illustration] + +See, sticking out of the front of its head are two little feelers, or +antennae, as we must call them. + +They are very short, but it does not need long ones. + +Insects smell with their feelers, you know, but our dragon flies see so +well they do not need to smell very well, I suppose. + +See how it can turn its head around. That is because it has a little +short neck between its head and its body. + +Its eyes, its mouth, and its antennae belong to its head. + +Of course our demoiselle can fly well; one need only look at those wings +to know that. + +To fly well is quite as necessary to one of its habits as to see well. + +What would be the use of seeing an insect if it could not fly fast +enough to catch it? + +We all like your pretty wings, little dragon fly; they look like glass +and they shine so in the sun. + +How fast the wings can move! See that dragon fly skimming over the pond; +its wings make a whizzing sound as it darts about. + +[Illustration] + +Why does it zigzag so? + +Why doesn't it fly in a straight line? + +Yes, Mollie, you are right, it goes zigzagging along after insects. + +It sees one it wants off at one side--whizz! around it turns after it. + +Shouldn't you like to fly like that, children? + +And yet we would not be willing to exchange our arms and hands for +wings. + +We could not whittle a stick nor write a letter if we had only wings. + +In fact we could not do most of the things we now do. + +I am glad I have my hands. + +We are glad, too, that the dragon flies have their pretty, swift wings. + +They have four wings, all nearly the same size and shape, you see, and +they are all stiff and shining. + +Some dragon flies, like this one we have picked up, always keep their +wings spread out. + +[Illustration] + +But over there, standing on the end of that stick, is another kind. + +When it rests its wings are folded together. + +What a pretty one it is! Do you see it? + +It is small, but so pretty. + +It is bright blue and shines as though it had been polished. + +Sometimes birds catch these smaller dragon flies, though birds, as a +rule, are not fond of any of them. + +They are so hard and their wings are so stiff I should think a bird +might almost as well swallow nails. + +I am sure no bird could swallow one of the big ones, wings and all! + +But frogs can. + +A frog will try to swallow almost anything it can catch, and it watches +for the dragon flies when they come to lay their eggs in the water. + +Suddenly it jumps out, and away goes poor dragon fly into that great +wide frog-mouth. + +[Illustration] + +Now look at the legs of the dragon fly. It has six. + +Every dragon fly has six legs. + +They are rather short and small for so large an insect, but that is +because it does not need large, strong legs. + +You never saw a dragon fly dig a hole, or run, or even walk, did you? + +Their legs are not arranged for walking. All six of them are directed +forwards as though they were reaching out after something. And so they +are--reaching out after insects. + +Dragon fly catches his prey while he is flying, and he grasps the +insects with his feet. + +He snatches one, and then what? + +Does he sit down somewhere and eat it? + +Not he, he is far too hungry for that; he continues his swift flight, +and as he flies he eats. + +As soon as he has finished one fly or gnat, zip! he snatches another. + +He has an insatiable appetite, consuming hundreds of insects in the +course of a day. Nor does he confine his attention to flies and gnats +and mosquitoes and such small fry. He catches what he can. A large +dragon fly will even gorge himself on one of the large-sized +butterflies, and one has been seen calmly chewing away at an enormous +wasp! + +No, indeed, Mabel, the dragon fly does not eat the wings of the +butterfly, it eats only the soft body. + +Probably nothing eats a butterfly, wings and all. Birds and insects +sometimes catch butterflies, and you often see the bright wings lying on +the ground. The wings of insects are not worth eating, and are almost +always cast aside by the creatures that eat the insects. + +Besides catching insects with their legs, the dragon flies cling fast to +things with them, but when they wish to move they do not walk, they fly. + +Yes, indeed, Frank, you are right; their legs are jointed. + +That is so they can move them easily and fold them up when they want +to. + +They would find it as hard to get along without joints to their legs as +we should. + +Wouldn't we be stiff if we had no joints! + +See, the legs and wings are fastened to the middle part of the body, the +_thorax_, we call it. + +All insects have the legs and wings attached to the thorax. + +The rest of the body is the abdomen. See how long it is. + +[Illustration] + +It is the long abdomen that gives the dragon fly its name of spindle, I +suppose. + +The abdomen is jointed, and it can curl up. + +All grown-up insects have a head, a thorax, and a jointed abdomen. + + * * * * * + +What are you looking at, Charlie? + +Something moving in the bottom of the pond? + +Let us get it out. + +Here, we will dip it out with this cup. + +What a lot of stuff! + +Sticks and mud--and--what is that? + +Something alive, surely. + +Let us put some clean water in the cup and examine what we have found. + +My! my! what a queer little thing! + +What do you suppose it is? + +Ah, I know now, but I do not think you could ever, ever guess, not if +you tried a week. + +It is a young dragon fly! + +It does not look much like its shiny-winged parents. + +It looks like I don't know what, with a face like--well, when you look +right in front of it, like a pug dog. + +Queer! Well, I should think so! What is that, Amy? Am I sure it is a +dragon fly? + +Yes, there is no mistake; a dragon fly one day dropped an egg in the +pond, and out of it hatched--this. + +[Illustration] + +It will some day become a shiny-winged dragon fly and catch mosquitoes. + +We will call it larva, and we will watch it a little while. + +Look and see if it has a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. + +Are there antennae on its head? And has it eyes? + +If you were to look at its eyes with a microscope, you would find that +they are made of six-sided facets, like the eyes of the grown-up dragon +fly. + +They are compound eyes, but they are not as large as the eyes of the +grown-up dragon fly. + +How many legs has it? What are its legs fastened to? + +Yes, Nellie, thorax is right. + +Its six legs are fastened to its thorax. I am glad you remembered +thorax. + +Has it a jointed abdomen? and has it wings? + +Look! did you see that? + +It opened its innocent-looking face all of a sudden, just darted it out +into a long-handled spoon, with hooks at the end, and hooked up that +little grub. + +Now it is holding the grub on the hooks in front of its mouth and eating +it as greedily as if it were half starved. + +[Illustration] + +So that is why its face looks so queer. + +It is its long under lip all folded up in front like a mask that makes +it look like a pug dog. + +When it pleases it darts out that lip, and any unlucky insect or snail +may fall a prey to its greedy appetite. + +It is said that the larvae of some dragon flies even eat pollywogs and +small fishes. + +Ned wants to know if "larvae" means the same as "larva." + +Yes, it is the plural form of the word. When we speak of only one we say +"larva"; when we speak of more than one, instead of saying "larvas," we +say "larvae." + +The dragon fly larvae are terrible gluttons, and hidden under the mask +are strong jaws for chewing up their prey. + +Their legs are quite large and strong, too, for they crawl about the +bottom of the pond or up the stalks of the plants. + +They do not move about very fast, but they do shoot out that under lip +very, very, _very_ fast indeed, so good-by to any little live thing in +the pond that comes within reach of it. + +The dragon fly larvae do not all look alike. They are different in the +different species of dragon flies, and, like the rest of us, they change +as they grow older. + +Yes, May, you can keep the dragon fly larvae until they change into +dragon flies. + +You must supply them with fresh water and with enough to eat. + +And you must put a net over the bowl or aquarium in which you keep them, +otherwise as soon as they are able they will fly away. + +How can they fly without wings? + +Oh, but they are going to have wings. You know they are young dragon +flies in spite of their strange appearance. + +Be sure and feed them enough, or else they will eat each other, and that +would be a pity; and be sure there are some water plants for them to +hide under and crawl upon. + +You can give them a little fresh fish or a tiny bit of very fresh meat, +though they like best the living things they find in the bottom of the +pond. + +[Illustration] + +When the dragon fly larva first hatches it is very small and its legs +are rather long and spidery, but it eats and eats and eats,--my, how it +eats! + +And it grows and grows, and one day it finds its skin too tight. + +A tight skin must be rather uncomfortable. + +But the larva does not care much for its skin. + +It merely splits it open down the back and pulls itself out. + +Perhaps you think it must be yet more uncomfortable to be without a +skin. + +But it is not without a skin. It is covered by a new and soft one that +soon hardens, and that is larger than the old one. + +It wriggles out of its old skin as though it were an old coat, and +leaves it clinging to the weeds in the pond. + +Sometime you may find these cast-off dragon fly overcoats. + +After it has shed its skin the dragon fly continues to grow. It keeps on +growing until it has outgrown its new skin. + +Then what do you think it does? + +Yes, Charlie, that is right, it sheds this skin too. + +[Illustration] + +When it sheds its skin we say it moults. + +It moults several times, and at last little short wings appear. At first +it has no wings at all, you know. + +Amy wonders how the larva breathes under water. + +Ah, Master Ned, you are laughing too soon. You think insects do not have +to breathe, but you are very much mistaken, sir. + +Insects do have to breathe. + +They would die if they could get no air to breathe. + +Some of the dragon fly larvae have an odd arrangement for breathing under +water. They have a sort of syringe in the end of the body, and there are +breathing pores or gills in the syringe. + +The water goes in and out of this syringe, and the larva breathes as the +fish does, by means of its gills. + +Yes, May, its gills are in its syringe, which seems very odd,--you see +the dragon fly larva breathes at its tail end instead of at its head +end. + +Mollie thinks it is an upside-down, inside-out sort of a creature +anyway. But it knows what it is about. + +Ned wants to know how it can get any air to breathe when it lives under +water. + +The truth is, there is always air mixed in with water, and it is this +air the larva breathes when the water goes in and out of the syringe. + +It uses the syringe for another purpose too. When it pleases it can +shoot out the water with great force, and thus propel itself quite a +distance. + +By means of the syringe it can leap through the water faster than it can +move by its slow-going legs. + +Mollie wants to know if we can see the syringe. + +No, it is inside the body. + +But there is a kind of dragon fly that has a pair of gills outside, at +the end of the abdomen, instead of the syringe inside. + +The best I can do is to show you a picture of one. Some day we may find +it in the pond. + +[Illustration] + +Those two feather-like parts at the tail end are gills. + +Yes, John, it can propel itself through the water by rowing, as it were, +with these gills. + +There are some species of dragon fly larvae that swim by moving the tip +of the abdomen from side to side, as a fish moves its body when it +swims. + +But now let us return to our funny larva that lives at the bottom of the +pond. It stays down there, eating and growing and moulting, for nine or +ten months or even longer; then something very wonderful happens. + +It suddenly feels a great desire to get up to the top of the pond. + +[Illustration] + +It climbs up a weed or a stick until it is clear out of the water. + +Then its skin splits down the back for the last time, and out there +pulls itself, not a larva, but a weak-looking dragon fly, with soft and +flabby little wings. + +Now is its hour of danger, and now is the time for such birds as like +the taste of young dragon flies to help themselves. + +Catbirds seem to have a special fondness for these helpless insects, and +have been known to eat them before the flabby little wings had grown +stiff. + +If the birds do not find the newly emerged dragon fly, it remains +motionless an hour or so, but it does not remain unchanged. + +Its wings stretch out and harden. + +Bright metallic colors begin to play over them and over its body; and +all at once--off it darts, away and away, glittering in the sunshine, a +swift, beautiful winged creature. + +Towards the end of summer you will often see dragon flies darting about +in every direction. + +They seem to come in swarms and I think they usually come where there +are ponds or marshes, for in such places there are many gnats and +mosquitoes. + +Mollie wants to know why it would not be a good plan for people who live +where there are many mosquitoes to raise dragon flies? + +That is a very sensible idea, Mollie, and it has been tried. + +Yes, indeed; some men once collected dragon fly larvae, and took care of +them until they changed into dragon flies. + +Then what do you think happened? + +As soon as they got their wings, away went those dragon flies,--away +and away, without stopping to catch a single mosquito for the men who +had taken the trouble to raise them. + +The dragon flies will not stay at home. + +They fly so fast and so far there is no use raising them. + +They are among the swiftest and strongest of insects. + +How do the larvae get in the ponds? Frank is asking. + +I will tell you what I know about it. + +[Illustration] + +The winged dragon flies mate, and the female then drops her eggs in the +water or lays them on twigs in the water, where they hatch out into +larvae. + +The dragon flies have to be very careful when they go close to the water +to lay their eggs. + +You all know why. + +Yes, it is because the frogs are on the watch to catch them. + +[Illustration] + +The mother dragon fly knows the larvae have to live in the water, and so +she takes pains to put the eggs there; sometimes she even crawls down +under the water on stems of plants to lay her eggs. Isn't she a wise +little mother? + +There are a good many species of dragon flies. + +Some are large and some are small. + +Some are bright and some are dull. + +There are black ones and bright blue ones, or green ones with blue eyes. + +Some are marked with red and yellow. + +They are a very gay family. + +The dragon fly family is also a very old one. + +Indeed, it is one of the oldest families on earth. + +Long before there were bees or butterflies or dogs or horses or human +beings, there were dragon flies. + +Don't you suppose that may be why the dragon fly is such a +strange-looking insect? + +It does not look like other insects; it is very old-fashioned, like the +pine trees. + +Pine trees, too, belong to a very old plant family that lived long ago, +before there were oaks or maples, or other trees that shed their leaves. + +Now we must go home. + +Good-by, green frog, you may come back to your log now. + +Good-by, pretty dragon fly people, we shall never forget you. + +Good-by, pleasant pond and moss-grown log, we hope to see you often +again. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE FAIRY MAY FLIES + +[Illustration] + + +Come, children, and see! Hundreds and hundreds of them are dancing +about. + +What are they? Yes, May, they do make us think of the dragon flies, but +they are like fairy demoiselles. + +They are the May flies, fairy ships sailing in the sea of air. + +See how they are tossed about. + +Many have fallen to the ground, which is covered with them. + +They live but a day, or sometimes only a few hours, and so they are +called day flies, and also ephemerae, which means short-lived. + +They have eyes, as you can see, little round eyes, but their mouth is so +tiny they cannot eat. + +Strange little beings to come into the world so helpless! + +How different from the strong, fierce dragon flies! + +See their dainty little legs. Six, you see, and legs and wings grow out +from the thorax. + +Have they an abdomen? + +See the long threads at the end of it, they look like slender tails. How +they spread these threads out as they fly! + +They have four wings, but the wings are not shaped like those of the +dragon fly, and they are very much more delicate. + +[Illustration: DRAGON FLY WINGS.] + +[Illustration: MAY FLY WINGS.] + +Yes, May, I agree with you, they look like fine lace. + +The fore wings, you see, are larger than the hind ones. + +Richard asks, "Where do May flies come from? and why are they called May +flies?" + +Now, Richard, one question at a time, if you please, and the last shall +come first because it is easier to answer. + +They are called May flies because they often come out in the month of +May, though sometimes not until June, and some species are as late as +July in appearing. + +[Illustration] + +We shall have to look into the ponds and little streams to discover +where they come from. + +See, John has scooped up some little speckled grubs out of the mud. Is +it possible that _they_ are the larvae of our fairy May flies? _They_ +have a mouth!--see what big jaws for such little creatures. + +And what do you suppose they eat? + +No doubt they, too, live on animal food. + +No doubt they move about in the mud and catch what they can. + +You see, John had to dig them up; they like to burrow in the weeds and +mud, and some of them even make tunnels of mud in which to protect their +soft bodies. Their short, stout legs enable them to dig well. + +Their bodies are soft, but their jaws are not. O dear, no! + +[Illustration] + +The grown-up May flies mate, and then the female drops her eggs on the +surface of the water. When she does this a fish will very often jump up +and seize her, for fish are very fond of May flies, and lucky are the +May flies to escape these ravenous enemies. + +The eggs are heavy and sink to the bottom, where they hatch into these +queer-looking larvae that eat and grow and shed their skin just like the +dragon fly larvae. + +Those brushes along their sides are the gills they breathe with. + +See the gills moving swiftly back and forth; they look as though the +larva wished to swim with them, but this is not why it moves them so +constantly. + +The continual motion of the gills stirs up the water and keeps our larva +supplied with fresh air. + +Nellie is asking what gills are. + +Well, gills in fishes and in such insects as have gills, and in crabs +and lobsters and other creatures that live in the water, are parts that +often look like fringes or flat plates. + +The gills of fishes have a great many blood vessels running through +them. The walls of these blood vessels are very thin, and the oxygen +from the air that is in the water passes into the blood that is in the +gills, and then this blood, all full of oxygen, circulates through the +fish's body. + +You see in fishes the blood vessels come into the gills and get the +oxygen. + +In insects it is different. There are air tubes running like tiny pipes +all through the gills and into the body of the insect. The oxygen of the +air that is in the water passes out through the walls of these tubes +into the blood of the insect. + +Yes, John, in fishes the blood comes to the air, in insects the air goes +to the blood. The air passes into the air tubes of the insects, and thus +is carried all through their bodies. + +The blood takes the oxygen out of the air. + +Without oxygen in the blood no animal could live. + +Now let us go back to our May flies. They remain in the larval state a +year, and some species remain two years. Think of living in the mud for +two long years! + +In the mud they creep about, eating, eating, eating. Then some summer +day they leave the mud and swim to the surface of the water. + +Pop! they are gone. + +They were so quick about it we could not see what happened. + +The larval skin burst open and forth leaped the May fly, like a winged +fairy from a prison cell. + +They do not come out slowly and wait for their wings to dry like the +dragon fly. + +[Illustration] + +They spring out all of a sudden and fly away, leaving their cast-off +skin in the pond. + +Unless their motions were quick they might be snapped up by the fish +that are so fond of them. + +But though they seem to emerge thus quickly into perfect winged May +flies, they are not quite done with infancy. They are still wrapped +about by a very delicate skin that they have to get rid of. So they fly +to a bush near the water and stay a little while until this skin splits +and comes off, and they are free. + +In spite of their quick motions when they spring from the water, many of +the May flies fall back into it and are caught by the fish. + +[Illustration here, as the text is broken] + +It is said that the trout become fat and good-flavored when the May +flies emerge, they eat so many of them. And what the fish do not catch +the birds try to. Swallows and other insect-loving birds have a glorious +feast when the May flies come out. For a season they live in the midst +of more delicacies than they can possibly use. + +Fish like the May fly larvae, too, which is probably the reason the larvae +have learned to live in the mud, out of reach. + +Fishermen dig up the larvae for bait, so you see the May flies have a +hard time to get safely through the world. + +But in spite of difficulties a great many of them live, and some summer +day out they come trooping. + +They spring all at once from the surface of the water as by magic, +hundreds and thousands, yes, millions of them. They fill the air, they +cover everything. + +The great naturalist Swammerdam, who was the first to make a thorough +study of the May flies, thus tells us how they appeared in France one +year:-- + +"I then saw a sight beyond all expectation. The ephemerae filled the air +like the snowflakes in a dense snowstorm. + +"The steps were covered to a depth of two, three, or even four inches. A +tract of water five or six feet across was completely hidden, and as the +floating insects slowly drifted away, others took their places. Several +times I was obliged to retreat to the top of the stairs from the +annoyance caused by the ephemerae, which dashed in my face, and got into +my eyes, mouth, and nose." + +These swarms of May flies appear only from three to five days at a +time. + +Wherever there are streams there are May flies, and the canals of +Holland make good breeding places for them; no wonder, then, the Dutch, +who you know live in Holland, have a saying, "As thick as May flies." + +Although so many of the May flies perish at once, multitudes of them +drop their eggs into the water to renew the race of May flies. + +Is it not wonderful that after so long a period of creeping about in the +mud as larvae, these graceful and beautiful little creatures have but a +few hours in which to dance joyously about in the upper air on wings of +gossamer? Some, indeed, live less than an hour, and some, that come out +in the evening, finish their dance of life and perish before sunrise, +without ever having seen the beautiful daylight. + +Yes, strange little beings are they. + +They do us no harm and we should not kill them. + +Let them live their short lives and be happy. + + + + +THE STONE FLY FOLK + +[Illustration] + + +John has been fishing. + +What do you think he caught? + +Nary fish, my dears, but a goodly number of stone flies, which he has +brought to show us. + +Yes, Mollie, they do remind us a very little of our May flies, only, of +course, they are many times larger. + +It is rather a clumsy creature in spite of its large wings, and John +says he had no trouble whatever in catching it. + +See, it has four wings, and the hind ones are the larger. + +Yes, May, they fold up in plaits, like the sticks of a fan. + +See its long antennae and its compound eyes. Its eyes are not so large as +are those of the dragon fly. It does not spend its time pursuing other +insects, but is more like the May fly after it gets its wings. + +Yes, Ned, it lives longer than the May fly, but it does not live very +long, and it eats little. + +It is a pretty little gray thing as it rests on the side of John's box, +with its wings folded like a gossamer cloak over its body. + +[Illustration] + +It lays its eggs in the water, and out of them hatch little six-legged +larvae that are not troubled by want of appetite. If the winged stone fly +does not eat, its larva does; it is like the other larvae we know, always +devouring something. + +[Illustration] + +Yes, Charlie, it feeds on living creatures, greatly relishing the larvae +of the May flies, or any other luckless insect infants it can capture. + +It grows fast and moults several times, and when winter comes it hides +away, only to come forth at the first breath of spring and continue its +eating. + +Like other larvae that live under water, it does its breathing by means +of gills, and these gills are in little tufts just above the base of +each leg. + +It lives under stones, which is why it is called the stone fly, and it +slides quickly around a corner when you lift up its stone. + +Fish are very fond of it, and hunt it as eagerly as it hunts larvae. +Since it makes good bait for brook trout, its life is always in danger. +It finishes its growth in early summer, and emerges from its larval +skin as a perfect winged insect. + +Yes, indeed, John, you can often find dozens of the cast-off skins of +the stone flies along the brook sides in the month of June. + +The stone flies are harmless little people, and we should never kill one +needlessly. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE SILVER FISH + + +May has something here for us to look at. She says it is a slippery +rascal. Let us see it. Oh, yes, you have it in that little box. See, the +box has a glass top. May cut the top off the box herself, and fastened +in a little pane of glass so we could see the rascal without danger of +its escaping. + +[Illustration] + +Pretty rascal! Like a little silver fish slipping about the box. + +Yes, Charlie, it is called the silver fish. A land fish? Why, yes, it +would be a land fish if it were a fish at all. But in spite of its name +it is no fish. It is covered with shining scales, though, that are very +much like fish scales, and it is shaped a good deal like a fish. + +Oh, yes, it is an insect. You see it has six legs. But it has no wings. + +No, it is not a young one. + +It never will have any wings, no matter how old it may get to be. + +It is flat, you see, and its scales make it very slippery, so that it is +hard to catch and yet harder to hold on to after you have caught it. It +goes flashing about like a little silver dart, and it loves to eat +starch. + +That is why May calls it a rascal. It eats the starch from the paste +that fastens on her wall paper, and from book-bindings, so you see it +makes things fall to pieces. But my! what a pretty rascal it is! Besides +its name of silver fish, it is also called fish moth, though it is not a +moth at all. It is also called bristle-tail, because of the long, +bristle-like parts at the end of its body; and in some places it is +called a slink, because, you know, it loves dark places, and when you +uncover it in the daytime, it slips around a corner into the dark again. + +Yes, it seems to slink about as if it were ashamed of itself, but it is +not ashamed; it does not like the light, and it does not like us to see +it. + +Perhaps it is afraid of us. + + + + +ORTHOPTERA + + + + +THE OLD COCKROACHES + +[Illustration] + + +Children, here is a cockroach. + +It was one of the first insects that came to live on the earth; +cockroaches were here before people, and they are here yet. + +You do not think it is pretty? + +Neither do I. + +I don't know anybody who thinks a cockroach pretty. + +Oh, no, it won't bite you. + +It will only get into your pantry and eat your food. + +It will walk around in the night and frighten you if you go suddenly +into the kitchen. + +It will not frighten you on purpose, but when it hears you coming, it +will run, and then maybe you will scream and run too. + +What is that, May? You've a good mind to scream and run as it is? + +Very well, scream and run if you want to; the cockroach won't care. + +We do not often see these big black fellows in the North, but sometimes +we do. Down South cockroaches seem to be everywhere. + +What, May? You are never going South, then? + +Well, you do not need to go; the cockroaches won't care. + +They have little heads and long antennae, like threads. + +What is that, May? You don't care anything about their heads? You don't +want to know anything about cockroaches? + +Oh, yes, you want to know about cockroaches. Remember how old they are. + +They have six legs, you see. + +You don't care how many legs they have? + +Oh, yes, you do. They could not walk if they had no legs. + +You wish they couldn't walk? + +Dear me, May; you don't seem to like cockroaches. + +Poor old cockroaches. + +[Illustration] + +Think how old they are. + +What is that you say? They are old enough to know better? + +Why, May, what have they ever done to you? + +Nothing, only you don't like them? + +Well, well, they don't like you, either. Poor old cockroaches; nobody +seems to like them. + +Perhaps they don't care. + +Will you let me tell you where they came from? + +They do not belong to this country. + +Their natural home is tropical Asia. + +You see, about four hundred years ago, the ships that bore fruits and +other merchandise from India and other warm countries in Asia, bore, as +well, a number of little, flat, reddish brown stowaways. + +[Illustration] + +Stowaways, as you know, are people that do not buy their tickets, but +that hide among the ship's cargo, and so get free transportation to +other countries. + +Well, these little flat stowaways were not human beings, they were +insects. Yes, May, they were the cockroaches. + +When they landed from their hot land of Asia in cold England, they must +have wondered what was to become of them. Many of them no doubt died, +for they cannot stand cold weather at all; but some of them were +carried, with the fruits and other things, quite unintentionally, of +course, for nobody guessed they were there, into warm cellars and +kitchen cupboards. + +_Then_ they felt at home! + +They knew better than to leave the cosey nooks where they could hide +away and sleep all day, and when they came out at night would find a +delicious supper close at hand. + +They are great eaters, you know, so what with the good things in the +pantry and the warmth of the kitchen quarters they prospered wherever +they could find a kitchen to live in. + +Soon they spread all over the large cities of England and finally into +even remote country districts. + +Of course they found their way to the United States of America, and in +many houses in the North they have taken lodging. But down South, where +it is always warm enough, they have prospered greatly, and they are +there in far greater numbers than in the North. + +Besides, there is a large American cockroach that belongs to tropical +America, but that has found its way pretty well over the country. And +there are cockroaches that live in the woods, some of them coming in the +night to visit our houses and help themselves from our pantries. + +Yes, Mollie, the cockroaches eat almost anything they can find, and what +they do not eat they spoil by an ill-smelling liquid they give out when +disturbed. + +It is this liquid that makes the cockroaches so very offensive to us. +We cannot bear to touch one because of it. + +Cockroaches eat one variety of food that nobody objects to their having. +They are fond of bed bugs and greedily devour them. + +Besides the large, dark, reddish brown cockroaches there is a little +tan-colored fellow that is often very troublesome. + +[Illustration] + +It is not a native of this country, but is supposed to have been brought +to England by soldiers from the Crimea, and later it found its way to +America. + +We call it the croton bug, but it is not a bug at all, it is a +cockroach. + +It is particularly numerous about water pipes, and, like the rest of the +cockroaches, it hides in the daytime. + +At night out troop crowds and crowds of the little tan-colored water +bugs. They run about the floor, and over the pantry shelves. They get +into everything they can find, and have a beautiful time. + +They are funny little fellows, and if they were not so troublesome, we +might admire them. + +How they can run! + +All the cockroaches run very fast, so that it is hard to catch one. And +they are hard and smooth, too, which makes it yet more difficult to +catch them. They are well made to escape their enemies, and they are so +flat they can hide in cracks or almost anywhere. + +No, May, they do not fly very much. You see this one has short wings. It +is a male cockroach. The female of this species of cockroach has no +wings at all, only little hints of wings, as it were. + +Such little useless wings we call "rudimentary" wings. + +John says he thinks that is a long word for short wings. + +Yes, but it is not a hard word,--ru-di-ment-ary, see if you can remember +it. + +The croton bugs have longer wings and they sometimes fly. + +If you were to spread out the wings of a cockroach, you would find it +had four. + +What is that, May? You wouldn't spread them out for anything? + +Yet wise men have been very much interested in our poor, ill-smelling +old cockroaches, and have studied carefully all about them. + +[Illustration] + +If you dislike to touch the cockroach so much, perhaps you will look at +this picture of a croton bug. + +See, the upper wings are different; the cockroach does not fly with +them, he merely uses them to cover up the under wings, and we call them +wing covers. + +It is the under wings the cockroach flies with. + +Cockroaches may not be pleasant, but who can say they are not +interesting? + +What other insect lays its eggs in little bandboxes? + +Here is one of the little boxes, shiny and hard. + +[Illustration] + +This little case is at first a sticky substance that soon hardens. The +eggs lie in it side by side in two rows. + +These cases remain attached to the abdomen of the female cockroach until +the eggs are all laid. Then the case falls off, and soon out runs a +crowd of infant cockroaches. + +[Illustration] + +The case is something like a satchel that shuts with a spring. The +youngsters are packed close together, side by side, with their heads +towards the mouth of the satchel. + +As soon as one hatches it pushes open the side of the case and creeps +out. Then the case springs together again to protect the rest of the +brood. + +They are funny fellows when they first come out, little and +white-looking. But they eat and grow of course, and shed their skins, +and after each moult they become darker in color. + +Now, do look again at this cockroach I have taken such pains to catch +for you and put into the tumbler. + +I think even May will own that it has a cunning little head. + +See it turn its head around to look at us. + +After all, the cockroach is a knowing little fellow. + +This one is hungry; it has had nothing to eat for some time. We will +give it this crumb of cake. + +Be careful, or it will get away; it can run very fast, and it is very +quick, you see, in all its motions. + +Ah, it is examining the crumb with the tips of its long antennae. + +See how daintily it touches the crumb. + +It can smell with its antennae, you know. + +Now it has decided the cake is good to eat. + +See how eager it is! + +[Illustration] + +It almost stands on its head to reach just the part it wants. + +John says he does not understand how insects smell with their antennae. + +I can tell you a little about it, John. + +If you look at one of the cockroach's antennae under the magnifying +glass, you will see it is made up of a good many short pieces, or +segments, as we call them, fastened together end to end. + +Yes, Mollie, that is why it can move about so easily. It can curl up +like a whiplash, you see. + +Next the head is a round segment that fits into a socket. + +[Illustration] + +Double up your right fist and fit it into the half-closed palm of your +left hand. + +There! That is like the ball-and-socket joint. + +You see you can move your fist around in all directions. + +The insect can move its antennae in all directions because they are +fastened to its head by ball-and-socket joints. + +On the segments of the antennae, particularly towards the tip, are little +dots. + +You cannot see the dots without the help of a strong microscope, but +they are there. + +These little dots are sensitive spots. There is a nerve coming from the +insect's brain to each dot. + +Some of the dots are sensitive to odors, just as the nerves of our nose +are sensitive to odors. + +May thinks it is very funny that the insects smell with antennae instead +of with noses. + +The insects, no doubt, would think it very funny for us to smell with, +noses instead of with antennae, if they thought about it at all. + +The little dots on the antennae are extremely sensitive to smells. They +are often much more sensitive than our noses. + +Put a bit of food at some distance from a hungry cockroach, and it will +not be long before a pair of long, sensitive feelers will come waving to +and fro out of some dark corner. + +[Illustration] + +Little Mrs. Cockroach has smelled the dainty morsel, and, as soon as it +is dark, out she will run, her feelers moving eagerly this way and that, +until she has found it. + +Yes, May, insects also feel with their antennae. That is why the antennae +are often called "feelers." + +There are other dots on the segments that are sensitive to touch. +Sometimes there are tiny hairs on the antennae, also sensitive to touch. + +The little fellows feel and smell, yes, and oftentimes _hear_ with their +antennae. + +Many insects have spots sensitive to sound on the antennae. + +Yes, indeed, May, it is wonderful that such tiny threads as an insect's +antennae should hold so many kinds of sensitive spots. + +An insect's antennae are among the most wonderful things in the world. + +And _I_ think a cockroach, in spite of its bad reputation, is a very +wonderful little fellow. + +What is that, May? Our cockroach is drawing one of its antennae through +its mouth? + +Ah, yes, see it clean its antenna, children. + +It seems to nibble at it as it draws it through its mouth. + +Insects are very careful to keep their antennae clean. + +It would not do to let these sensitive spots become covered with dust, +you know. + +[Illustration] + + + + +NEIGHBOR WALKING STICK + + +Isn't this a pretty place to sit down and-- + +"Ouch! ow! ow! ow!" + +Why, May, what is the matter? + +Anybody would think you had seen a cockroach. + +What has she found, John? + +[Illustration] + +Oh, it is a walking stick! + +Why do I call it that? + +Look and see. + +Does it not look like a stick? + +And does it not walk? + +Then why is not walking stick a good name for it? + +May thinks its legs look like a collection of pine needles, for they are +green and flat on the upper joints. + +It is as pretty as it is queer, with its brown body and its green legs. + +This is the male walking stick; the female has brown legs. She is brown +all over, just the color of dried leaves, and she is not as slender as +her mate. + +Mollie thinks it is the long and slender thorax that makes the walking +stick look so queer. + +See its thorax. Its six legs are attached to its thorax, which is as +long and as slender as the abdomen. + +John thinks it looks queer because everything about it is so long and +slender. + +[Illustration] + +Long antennae, long legs, long thorax, long abdomen--that is Mr. Walking +Stick. + +Sir, why do you have such long antennae? Can you hear and feel and smell +extra well because of them? + +I wish you could tell us about them. + +Now where is it? + +Oh, yes, it is standing on that brown twig. It is so nearly the color of +the twig and so much the shape of a little stick itself, that it is not +easy to find it. + +There, it is walking off again. + +[Illustration] + +It has a good name, for I am sure that if a stick tried to walk, it +could not do it more awkwardly. + +See now, what it is doing, hanging by one foot from that twig. + +How still it is. + +Who would imagine, seeing it thus for the first time, that it was a +living creature? + +The walking sticks feed on leaves, and I suppose their queer shape and +their color protect them from being eaten by birds. + +A bird would have to be very close to a walking stick to tell it from a +twig. + +The female drops the eggs on the ground, and leaves them to hatch out +and make their way in the world as best they can. + +[Illustration] + +The young walking sticks look just like their parents, only of course +they are very small, and they are green in color, like the leaves they +eat. + +Yes, little Nell, I should like to find some too; they must be cunning +little things. + +They eat and grow and moult, and eat and grow and moult, until they are +grown up. + +There are a good many species of walking sticks in the world, +particularly in hot countries; and to their family belong the longest of +known insects, some being nearly a foot long. Just imagine a walking +stick a foot long! + +And some of them are quite prettily colored, though certain species are +not pleasant to handle, as they give forth a bad-smelling milky fluid +when disturbed. + +They are gentle little folk, all of them, and move slowly about over the +leaves and twigs, not wishing to harm any living thing. + +Some members of the walking stick family have wings, and these are even +more curious than those that have none. + +Their wings and legs are flattened to look like leaves, so that it is +very difficult to find them among the foliage. + +[Illustration] + +Yes, May, they are also the color of the leaves they live among. + +Here is a picture of one that will give some idea of these strange +little people. + +We have none of these leaf-like insects in our country, but we do have a +near relative to the walking sticks, though it does not feed on leaves, +I assure you. + +How many of you are acquainted with his lordship, the praying mantis? + +[Illustration] + +Charlie says he has seen these fellows in Kansas, and Nellie says she +has a cousin in the South who has told her about them. + +Here is a picture of one; is it not a beauty! + +Its wings are green and its body is brown, so that it can stealthily +creep about among the foliage without being noticed. + +When at rest it holds its front legs up as though it were raising its +arms in an attitude of devotion. + +But not a thought of devotion lies in that cruel little head. There is +only one idea there; and if any unwary insect were to come along, those +devotional arms would be thrust out with incredible rapidity, and the +unfortunate insect clasped tightly in them. + +Then the mantis, hugging its prey in the strong trap-like clasp of its +spiked legs, would coolly proceed to devour it alive, eating it as a boy +would eat an apple. + +[Illustration] + +This praying mantis is called a "mule-killer" in the South, where the +people think the brown liquor it spits out of its mouth, when disturbed, +is fatal to mules. + +The mantis is also called a devil-horse, a rear-horse, a camel-cricket, +and many other names inspired by its outlandish appearance. + +Some have even thought it looked wise, standing in that knowing attitude +with extended arms, and so it has been called prophet and soothsayer, as +though it could foretell what is going to happen. + +Undoubtedly it never foretells anything but the approaching death of +some insect and possibly a coming change in the weather, for insects +often know when the weather is going to change long before we do. + +Although our mantes are brown or green, there are a great many species +living in hot countries that are much more brightly attired; and when +you find yourself on a visit to the tropics, you must look for the +flower mantis. + +It mimics in color the brilliant hues of the showy orchids in which it +hides. + +It does not seem to wear its gorgeous robes from a love for the +beautiful, however, but rather that it may the better lie concealed in +the heart of the gay flowers, to pounce upon unsuspecting insects that +come there for refreshing draughts of honey. + +[Illustration] + +In some parts of Africa the mantis is worshipped by the natives, and in +France these fellows are believed to point out the way to travellers by +stretching out one leg when questioned. + +Its strange attitude, with uplifted arms, has won the mantis regard in +all parts of the world, though the insects it clasps in these uplifted +arms would not be likely to share the good opinion held of this hardy +cannibal. + +For it is a cannibal, and enjoys eating another mantis as much as +anything else. + +The mantes are terrible fighters, too, and if there is a meeting between +two of them, there is very apt to be a battle in which one is vanquished +and devoured by the other. + +Our mantis lays its eggs, thirty or forty in number, on tree twigs, and +they are embedded in a soft substance that soon becomes very tough and +horny. These strange egg-cases of the mantis are easily recognized +because they look as though they were braided on top, as you can see in +the picture. + +[Illustration] + +Yes, May, the tough covering is to protect the eggs from wet and from +prying birds and hungry insects. + +The young mantes are similar to their parents, only they have no wings. +But they hold up their spiny front legs and catch insects, and they grow +and moult in the usual way. + +While we have been talking about leaf-like insects and mule-killers our +walking stick has gone off. + +[Illustration] + +Well, well, let him go, and good luck go with him. + +I am glad you like the walking stick, children. + +And now, May, let me tell you something. + +This queer fellow is a very near relative of your friend, the +cockroach. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE GRASSHOPPER TRIBES + + +Don't you often wonder where they come from? The swarms of grasshoppers +in the late summer? + +Charlie says he walked across a field last night where he believes there +were as many grasshoppers as there were blades of grass. + +Just think of it! and yet they do not seem to do any harm. + +In some places, however, they do a great deal of harm. + +They come flying in swarms that darken the sun, and they settle on the +trees and the crops and eat up every green thing. There is nothing a +Western farmer dreads so much as the passing of the grasshoppers. + +Grasshoppers are funny little fellows, and we like them--when there are +not too many of them. + +Summer would not seem quite like summer unless we heard the grasshoppers +shrilling. + +There are a great many species of them, and we have placed them in two +divisions,--The Shorthorned Grasshoppers and The Longhorned +Grasshoppers. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE SHORTHORNED GRASSHOPPERS + + +They have no horns, of course, but some have short antennae that stick +out like little horns, and those we call shorthorned. + +The right name for the shorthorned grasshoppers is locusts. + +We call another insect a locust, but the shorthorned grasshoppers are +the true locusts. + +Some say it was these locusts that John the Baptist ate with his honey +in the wilderness. + +[Illustration] + +A good many people in different parts of the world still eat locusts. + +They are said to be good food when roasted, but I would rather eat +roasted peanuts. + +Come here, little locust, and let us look at you. + +Now, stand still, and show us your short "horns." + +See its eyes! + +Yes, May, they are compound eyes, but I do not know how many facets they +have. + +What a funny little rabbit face it has. + +See it move its little mouth parts. + +It bites bits out of the leaves and chews them up very fast. + +Has it teeth? May is asking. + +Well, yes, but not like our teeth. Sometime you must see the mouth parts +of the grasshopper under the microscope. They are very interesting. + +Mollie says the locust has a cape on. + +John says the cape is the top of its thorax. + +[Illustration] + +Frank has been counting its legs; he says it has six. + +See it walk. It uses all six legs to walk with. + +But it does something besides walk with its hind legs. + +Yes, it jumps with them. How long and large they are! Now watch it jump. + +See! It draws those long hind legs close up to its body, then suddenly +straightens them out--and away it goes as though it had been shot from a +spring board. + +John says its hind legs work just like a spring, and so they do. It can +leap several times the length of its body. Amy thinks it should be +called a grass-jumper instead of a grasshopper. + +Suppose we all look carefully at the locust's long hind leg, segment by +segment. + +What, John? You do not know what a segment is? + +Well, a segment is the part between two joints. The joints are where +the leg bends, you know. + +May proposes that we draw a picture of the long hind leg. + +It will be fun to try. + +There are two tiny segments close to the body. + +If you are not careful, you will find only one. + +You must look sharp to see both of them. + +How well Charlie has drawn his! He has both the little segments. + +[Illustration] + +The one next the body we will mark I, and we will call it the coxa. + +The next little one we will mark II, and that we will call the +trochanter. + +The long, strong one, III, we will call the femur. + +The next one, long and narrow, we will mark IV, and call the tibia. + +All the rest of the leg, made of several short segments, we will call +the tarsus, and we will mark it V. + +Now how are we to remember all those hard names? + +Here is a jingle that perhaps will help us:-- + + _Coxa_ first, and then _trochanter_, + Number three the _femur_ stands, + After this, the long, straight _tibia_, + And last of all the _tarsus_ comes. + +Now let us see who can learn it first. + +Charlie says we are taking a good deal of trouble over the hind legs of +a grasshopper. + +[Illustration] + +Very true, Mr. Philosopher, but let me tell you something. + +When we have learned the names of the segments in the grasshopper's hind +leg, we have learned the names of the segments in the legs of all +insects. + +You see all the legs are made on one common plan, and it is very +convenient, as you will soon see, to have the parts named. + +What a fine set of drawings of the grasshopper's hind leg we have! + +Why do you suppose the coxa and trochanter are so small? + +Yes, John, it is in order that the leg can move easily. + +The grasshopper can turn its leg in almost any direction because of +these small upper segments. + +It can put its leg up over its head if it wants to. Next to the little +coxa and trochanter is the longest and largest segment in the +grasshopper's leg; I suppose nobody remembers its name. + +Listen to little Nell,--"number three the _femur_ stands." + +So it does, and what a very useful femur it is! + +If it were not for the long femur and the long, slender tibia, the +grasshopper would not be a grasshopper--it could not hop at all. + +Watch the grasshopper, and see how he uses those long segments to jump +with. + +[Illustration] + +First he draws the tibia close up to the femur--now he is off! + +He just straightened those long hind legs out with a jerk, and away he +went! + +[Illustration] + +What do you suppose the two little sharp spines at the end of the tibia +are for? + +What, May? You did not see any spines? + +[Illustration] + +Look again. + +See, Charlie has drawn them very plainly in his picture of the +grasshopper's leg. Mark them _s_, Charlie. + +Now we must all look at Charlie's picture. + +He says he thinks he knows what the spines are for--they are to keep +the grasshopper from slipping when he makes his leap forward. + +I have no doubt Charlie is right. + +May wants us to look at the beautiful little hinge x where the femur and +the tibia are fastened together. + +[Illustration] + +Let us mark it _X_. + +See the little ball on the end of the tibia. How well it fits into the +hollow on the end of the femur. + +In order to see this hollow or groove, you must look on the under side +of the leg. + +Yes, John, it reminds us of the ball-and-socket joint, only this is a +hinge joint, and does not move in so many directions. + +The tibia can move towards the femur and away from it on this hinge. + +When our little friend gets ready to jump, he draws the tibia close up +to the femur. When he jumps, he pushes the femur quickly away from the +tibia. + +If you watch the grasshoppers, you will soon understand just how they +use their hind legs in jumping. + +The tarsus bends easily. + +It has three joints. + +The last segment is a cunning little foot. + +What is John doing? + +He is looking at the grasshopper's foot through the magnifying glass. +Wise John! + +Let us all look. + +Yes, Charlie, we will try to draw it. + +Mollie has hers drawn already. Do not hurry too much, Mollie. You cannot +draw well if you hurry. + +See the sharp claw on each side of the foot. + +[Illustration] + +Let us mark these claws _a_ and _b_. + +Between them is a flat little pad which we may as well mark _c_. + +May says her picture looks like a crazy pond lily. + +Let us see, May. Well, it _is_ rather funny. + +If I were you, I should try again. Any child can learn to draw who will +keep trying. + +Touch the grasshopper's foot with the tip of your finger. + +How the little foot clings to you! + +It clings by the two little claws that have caught in your skin, and +that hold fast. + +[Illustration] + +What do you suppose the little pad between the claws is for? + +It is important, I can tell you. + +John says he has heard there is a little pad in the fly's foot that +enables it to walk on glass. + +Yes, and it is the same with the grasshopper. + +The little pad between the claws is fringed with hairs. + +You can see them with a good magnifying glass. + +Out of the tip of each hair comes a little drop of sticky liquid. + +This fastens the foot to any smooth surface. + +Many insects have these sticky hairs on their foot pads. + +When a fly walks up a window pane, it does it by gluing its feet, one +after the other, to the glass. + +I don't wonder you laugh. + +No, Mollie, the glue does not harden and hold it fast. + +The fly can easily pull its foot loose. The grasshopper cannot walk on +glass quite as well as the fly. Its foot pads do not cling so well. + +[Illustration] + +Would you not like to know the name of these curious little foot pads? + +We call the foot pad a _pulvillus_. + +Some insects do not have sticky hairs on the pulvillus. + +There are beetles that simply put the pulvillus so flat against a smooth +surface that it stays there by the pressure of the air above. + +Some people think that is the way the pulvillus on the fly's foot acts. + +Perhaps it acts both ways, sucking fast and sticking by hairs. + +John wants to know if the beetle's pulvillus does not act just like the +"sucker" that boys make. + +The sucker, you know, is a round piece of leather with a string attached +to the middle. + +When the leather is wet and laid flat on the floor or on a smooth stone, +all the air below it is pushed out, and the air above presses so hard +that a boy cannot pull the leather up from the floor. + +[Illustration] + +You can peel it up from one edge and let the air under easily enough, +and then a baby could lift it. + +When the insect wants to move, it peels its foot loose. + +It can do this very quickly. + +Mollie wants to know what all these little sharp spines on the back of +the tibia are for. + +Let us look at them. + +There is a double row of them. + +Do they not look a little like a comb? + +I suspect that is what they are, the grasshopper's comb. + +Insects are very neat little folks. + +They are always cleaning their wings and their legs and their antennae +and their bodies. + +The spines on their legs are very convenient for that. + +Charlie says he thinks the grasshopper's legs are as good as a whole box +of tools. + +So they are, and you have not yet heard all they can do. + +The funniest is to come. + +Mr. Grasshopper sings his song with his hind legs! + +He rubs the inside of his femurs against the outside of his wings. + +There is a row of very fine spines down the inside of the femur for the +use of the little fiddler. + +He scrapes away with these on his wing covers. + +Yes, Ned, his femur is his violin bow, and his wing cover is his violin. + +The noise he makes does not sound much like a violin, little Nell +thinks. + +No, indeed, it does not. + +It is the shrilling sound we hear in the grass in the summer time. + +[Illustration] + +It is only the male grasshopper that sings. + +The little lady grasshopper sits still and listens to him. + +Now, let us look at the other legs. + +The front pair are the smallest. + +Can you find the little coxa and trochanter? + +Yes, Charlie, we will draw the little front leg. + +Let us number the segments as we did those of the hind leg. + +See, the femur is larger than the other segments, but it is small as +compared to the femur of the hind leg. + +The tibia is shorter, too, than the tibia of the hind leg. + +The little tarsus is like the tarsus of the hind leg with its claws and +its pulvillus, only, of course, it is smaller. + +The middle pair of legs is like the front pair, only larger. + +Now, see how the legs are placed on the grasshopper's body. + +[Illustration] + +The front pair are directed forward. When the insect walks, they pull. + +The middle and hind legs are directed backward. When the insect walks, +they push. + +Well, little legs, you all have your own work to do, and you surely do +it very well. + +Let me see, who has front legs as odd as the grasshopper's hind legs. + +Yes, Mollie, the mantis has. + +Let us look again at the mantis. + +Here is another picture of it. + +Its hind legs are just common walking legs, you see. + +And so are its middle legs. + +[Illustration] + +John says they are directed forward instead of backward. + +You can see why. + +They have to take the place of the front legs, that do not touch the +ground at all. + +They have to hold Mr. Mantis up, and pull him along when he wants to +walk. + +Now, let us see if we can make anything out of these front legs. + +The coxa is small and close to the body. + +The trochanter, II, is very large and long. + +Yes, Charlie, it increases the size and strength of the leg very +greatly, by being thus enlarged. + +The femur, III, is large and strong, too, and it has a row of sharp, +spiny teeth down the inside. + +The tibia, IV, is also well supplied with cruel teeth, and at the end of +it is the tarsus, as you see. + +You know how the mantis uses these legs. The joint between the tibia and +femur is a strong hinge joint. If can shut the tibia close to the femur, +the spiny teeth of the one locking into the spiny teeth of the other, +and forming a terrible trap for the insects that are so unfortunate as +to get caught in its merciless grip. + +Altogether, you see, it is quite a terrible leg, though it has no more +segments than a common leg. + +The segments are changed in shape and size from the regular leg +segments. + +When any part is changed from the regular shape or size, we say it is +_modified_. + +The front legs of the mantis are modified to catch and hold its prey. + +Yes, John, the hind legs of the grasshopper are modified too. + +They are modified to jump with. + +Ned says he didn't know there was so much to learn about a little thing +like an insect's leg. + +Yes, indeed, there is a great deal to learn about all living things. + +I wonder how you would like to look at the grasshopper's wings for a +little while. + +Here is one with large wings. + +[Illustration] + +See how they lie along each side of the body. + +They come together on top like the ridge of a sloping house roof. + +Yes, May, they are the roof to the grasshopper's body, and they help to +protect it. + +Let us gently spread them out. + +Ah! these roof wings are not what the locust flies with at all. + +See, folded up under them is a pair of delicate gauzy wings. + +[Illustration] + +If we are careful, we can spread them out. + +We will use this dead grasshopper that Charlie has found. + +What pretty wings! So dainty! And how cleverly they are folded up, like +little fans. + +Who would imagine such delicate gauzy wings were folded away under the +hard, stiff roof wings. + +The roof wings are called wing covers, because they cover up these +pretty inner wings. + +The locust does not fly with the wing covers. + +It spreads them out wide to get them out of the way. + +It flies with the inner wings. + +[Illustration] + +How pretty the flying wings are when they are spread out! + +See, over there goes a grasshopper whose flying wings are bright yellow. + +And there goes another with red flying wings. + +Some of the grasshoppers are almost as pretty as butterflies when they +are flying. + +They show their gay inner wings only during flight. + +As soon as the grasshopper comes to rest the inner wings close of +themselves. + +The wing joints act like springs. + +The grasshopper does not have to think about shutting up its wings. + +[Illustration] + +John says it has a spring in its wing covers too. + +Open the wing cover. + +There, it locks itself, as it were, and stays open without any effort on +the part of the grasshopper. + +You see the grasshopper wants its wing covers to stay open and out of +the way of the inner wings when it flies. + +So it just opens them, and there they are. + +It moves the inner wings very fast indeed when it is flying. It would +not do at all for them to be fastened open. + +If it did not move them, it could not fly. The wings fairly _whirr_, +they go so fast. They beat against the air, and thus the grasshopper is +pushed along through the air. + +As soon as it is done flying it stops moving the wings, and they +instantly close of themselves. + +[Illustration] + +Then it unlocks the wing covers and they shut down over the inner wings. +They shut down very tightly. They overlap, as you can see, just below +where they are fastened to the insect's body. Thus they form a very good +roof. + +[Illustration] + +What wonderful wings the grasshopper has! + +And there is something more to be said about them. + +Some species of locusts use their wings as musical instruments. When +they wish to, they rub the upper end of the inner wings against the +upper end of the wing covers when they are flying. + +This makes the crackling sound we sometimes hear when the locusts fly. + +What is that, Mollie? You have caught a locust that has no wings at all? + +Who can guess why? + +Ah, yes, our wise John says he thinks it is because it is a young one. + +What makes you think so, John? + +I know, you remembered the larva of the dragon fly and of the May fly. + +[Illustration] + +Those larvae had no wings at first, but the wings grew, and finally at +the last moult they were full-sized. + +When first hatched, the locust larva is like the full-grown locust, +only, of course, it is very small, and it has no wings at all. + +It is a little dot of a thing with an enormous head. + +Here are three clinging to a blade of grass. + +Are they not funny little rascals! + +The baby locust eats and grows and moults until, finally, the wings +begin to show as little pads at its sides. + +[Illustration] + +It is easy to find these half-grown grasshoppers in the middle of the +summer. + +Here is one that little Nell has caught. + +See its wing pads. + +Mollie says they are rudimentary wings. + +It continues to eat and grow and moult, and the little wings are moulted +off with the rest of the skin--for the wings of the insect are only +modified parts of the skin. + +But there are new and larger wings underneath, and these grow and are +moulted off with the next skin, until, at last, the grasshopper is +full-grown, with full-grown wings. + +It will not moult any more after that. + +When full-grown, the females lay their eggs. + +Where do you suppose they lay their eggs? + +Some of them make a hole in the ground. + +The end of the abdomen is very strong and sharp, and the locust can make +a hole with it quite easily. + +When the hole is made, then the eggs are laid in it, and the locust +covers the opening to the hole with a sticky substance to keep out the +wet. + +The eggs usually lie in the ground all winter. + +[Illustration] + +Just think of the locust eggs there are under our feet as we cross the +fields! + +Millions and millions of little eggs are hidden in the ground. + +Early in the next summer the little eggs hatch, and then tiny locusts +creep up out of the earth and go hopping about everywhere. + +Most of the full-grown locusts die in the fall. + +As you know, the young ones have no wings, and this is why there are so +few winged locusts early in the summer. + +Some locusts make their holes in fence rails or in old stumps. + +It is the locusts, or shorthorned grasshoppers, that sometimes come in +swarms that darken the sun. + +There is nothing the Western farmer dreads so much as a swarm of +locusts. + +I have heard how the grasshoppers came in Kansas one year. + +They appeared all of a sudden in countless millions. + +They were piled up against the fences clear to the top. + +They swarmed into the houses, and in places on the railroad track they +were piled so deep the trains could not run through them. + +Think of a railway train being stopped by grasshoppers! + +They stripped every leaf from the trees and left them as bare as in +winter. + +They ate up every blade of grass. + +But in the East they do not do so much damage, though they sometimes +cause the farmers serious loss. When summer comes we may listen to their +cheery din with pleasure. + +I am sure we shall enjoy the merry sounds of the grasshoppers all the +more now that we know something about how they are made, and something +about the little fellow that makes them. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE LONGHORNED GRASSHOPPERS + +[Illustration] + + +Probably it was the longhorned grasshoppers that Charlie saw so many of +in the meadow. + +Look, next time, Charlie, and see if the swarms that start up before you +have not long, slender antennae. + +See, here is one. + +Its antennae are like threads, and they are longer than its body. + +If you were to look at its tarsus, you would find it had four joints +instead of three. + +Otherwise, the longhorned, or meadow grasshoppers are very much like the +locusts, or shorthorned grasshoppers. + +John says he thinks the meadow grasshoppers are more slender and +delicate in shape. + +That is true, as a rule, though there are some species of the locusts +that are as slender as the longhorned grasshoppers. + +But there is one thing about these longhorned fellows that will amuse +you. + +Some of them have ears on their front legs! + +It is not uncommon for insects to have hearing organs on their front +legs. + +You know what an ear is. It is something to hear with. The hearing part +of our own ears is way inside, out of sight. + +The outer part of the ear, that we can take hold of, is only a sort of +funnel to gather up the sound, and we could still hear if this part of +our ears were cut off. + +Way back inside the ear is a little curtain, or eardrum, made of a thin +membrane. + +When sounds enter the ear they cause the eardrum to tremble or vibrate, +and this excites the nerve of hearing that is behind the eardrum. + +Now some grasshoppers have a little flat membrane on the tibia of each +front leg. It is an eardrum. Behind it is the nerve of hearing. When +sounds strike the eardrum it vibrates and excites the nerve of hearing. + +[Illustration] + +So you see the insects have _ears_, though they have no funnel-like +outsides to them. + +So, after all, there isn't so _very_ much difference between the way the +grasshoppers hear, and the way we hear, although they do hear with their +legs. + +Yes, Ned, it is about the same thing when they hear with sensitive spots +on their antennae. + +The sounds strike the sensitive spots, which are tiny eardrums, and +cause the nerves that come to them to hear. + +You see, after all, an ear is only a membrane able to vibrate when +sounds strike it and a nerve sensitive to those sounds. + +It does not matter much where the ear is located. Our ears are on either +side of our head, and so are the ears of all the higher animals. + +But the ears of the insects are more useful to them when on the antennae, +or the legs, or some have them on the abdomen. An ear is an ear wherever +it happens to be, and the insects hear well enough with theirs. + +[Illustration] + +In many species of the longhorned grasshoppers, the male has a curious +musical instrument on his wing covers, close to where they grow from the +body. + +Little Mr. Grasshopper sings to his lady-love by rubbing the upper parts +of the wing covers together. You see the round places at _X_,--those are +the modified parts of the wing cover, by means of which he can make his +music. + +What is that, May? Your grasshopper has a long sword at the end of its +body? + +[Illustration] + +Yes, that is its ovipositor. Ovipositor means "egg-placer." + +With this long, sharp ovipositor the grasshopper can roughen the bark of +twigs or make holes in the stems of plants or in the earth. + +Then the eggs are guided down through the long ovipositor to the place +prepared for them, and fastened there by a gummy substance. + +[Illustration] + +Only the female grasshoppers have the long, sword-shaped ovipositor. + +The ovipositor of the locust is not long and sword-like. + +It is short, but it is strong and sharp, and you remember how the locust +uses it to dig with. + +Yes, indeed, Mollie, there are a great many species of locusts and +grasshoppers, and some of them are very beautiful. + +In hot countries they sometimes grow to an enormous size. + +May is asking why they make molasses. + +No, Ned, of course it isn't molasses. Children call it molasses because +it looks like it. + +Now, May, where does it make its molasses? + +In its mouth, you say, and then it spits it out on your finger. + +What? You don't like its old molasses on your finger? + +No, of course not. + +It smells bad, and it is sticky and disagreeable to the touch, and if +you happen to put your finger in your mouth it has a nasty taste. + +[Illustration] + +John says he hates to touch the grasshopper on account of this molasses. + +You _all_ do? + +Well, I guess that is why it makes its molasses; it doesn't want you to +touch it. + +It doesn't want birds to eat it, or other insects to bother it, and so +it smears them with this ill-smelling, sticky liquid. + +Some birds eat it, however, in spite of its molasses. + +Turkeys do. + +What is that, Ned? turkeys are not birds, you think? + +What are they? + +If you think about it, you will have to come to the conclusion that +turkeys are birds. + +Then chickens and ducks and geese must be birds? + +Well, so they are. They are all birds. + +But to return to turkeys. + +A flock of turkeys will spread out in a long line, and go across a +field, driving the grasshoppers ahead of them, and eating them as fast +as they can pick them up. + +It is a funny sight to see a big flock of turkeys hunting grasshoppers +in a meadow. + +It is not funny to the grasshoppers, though. + +What is that, Charlie? The grasshopper somehow reminds you of the +praying mantis? + +Do you know it is a near relative of the mantis? + +Now, I will tell you something funny about the mantis. + +It makes "molasses" like the grasshopper. Yes, it is this harmless +"molasses" that has given it the name of "mule-killer." + +I will tell you something else. If you lie down in the grass and watch +the grasshoppers, you will have a good time, and you will see some +strange things. + +Nobody can tell you very much about the grasshoppers--or about the +living creature. The best way is to use your own eyes and watch. + +Just lie down in the grass perfectly still, and soon the insects that +live in the grass will begin to appear. + +[Illustration] + +What they will do you must find out for yourselves; but you may be sure +it will be worth finding out,--the funny, clever, wise little +people!--ah! they are good to watch. + +They will soon go on chirping and shrilling and rasping and kricking and +tapping and whizzing and whirring and buzzing all about you; and if you +listen sharp, perhaps you can understand some of the things they say. + +And this I am sure of; if you really watch and listen, you can learn to +know the different insects by their sounds, just as you can know the +birds by their songs. You can even tell whether you are listening to the +meadow grasshopper, or the locust. + +If I thought you were not tired of hearing how grasshoppers are made, I +should tell you some more. + +John says he would like to know some more. + +Well, then, I will tell you about their rings. + +You can see the rings of the grasshopper people very plainly in their +abdomens. + +[Illustration] + +Here is a picture of a grasshopper. It is not all drawn. The legs and +wings are not shown, and the abdomen is drawn by itself so you can see +it easily. + +There are ten rings, you see. + +The rings are covered with a hard, horny substance. + +This horny substance is what makes the body of the insect so stiff. It +would be soft but for the chitin, as the horny substance is called. + +It is better for the insect to have a chitinous covering. + +If you had no bones, you would be glad to have your skin hardened with +chitin. + +You see how it is, you wear your skeleton inside. Your skeleton is of +bones; it is an inside skeleton. + +The grasshoppers and all the insects wear their skeleton outside. It is +made of chitin; it is an outside skeleton. + +Insects have no bones. + +They do not need any. They are kept stiff by the chitin. + +Each ring in the insect's abdomen is made of four pieces, the back +piece, the side pieces, and the under piece. You can see the back piece +and one side piece in the picture, but you cannot see the other side +piece nor the under piece without turning the insect over. + +The rings are made in pieces so the insect can move. + +Suppose each ring were made of one stiff piece like a finger ring. What +a poor stiff, old grasshopper it would be! The rings are called +segments. + +Segment number one has only a back piece, you see. + +All the other segments have four pieces. + +Segments two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight are alike. + +Segments nine and ten are modified to form the ovipositor. + +The segments are fastened together by skin. The skin is soft so the +segments can move back and forth. + +The segments can be crowded close together to shorten the abdomen. + +The segments can be separated from each other to lengthen the abdomen. + +There is no chitin in the skin between the segments. It is soft so the +segments can move. + +Do you know how a telescope is made? + +The abdomen of the insect can lengthen and shorten somewhat like a +telescope. + +It is easy to see the rings in the abdomen of the locust or grasshopper. + +Now, what about the thorax? + +That, you tell me, has no rings. + +[Illustration] + +Look again, and look carefully. + +You will have to see another picture. + +This is a picture of the head and thorax of the grasshopper. It is drawn +to show the separate parts of the thorax. + +Yes, John, the thorax has three segments. They are grown so close +together you would not suspect it until you looked very close. + +The front legs are fastened to the first segment. + +What is fastened to the middle segment? + +Yes, May, the middle pair of legs and the wing covers. + +Mollie says the long hind legs and the flying wings are fastened to the +third or hind segment. + +Oh, you funny little folks! you are all made up of rings. + +Yes, indeed, little Nell, the segments of the thorax are made of chitin; +they are very stiff. + +Ned thinks the segments of the legs are made of chitin too. + +Their outside shell certainly is. + +The whole outer shell of the insect is made of the horny chitin. + +You hard little chitin-covered, segmented people, you are very different +from us. + +Ah! yes, May, they are like us in many ways. + +Indeed, Mollie, insects do have brains. + +They have muscles, too, to move their little bodies with. + +We have muscles under our skin, you know. The muscles move our arms and +legs and bodies. + +If you clasp your fingers around your arm and then move your arm, you +can feel the muscles. + +The insects have muscles inside their chitinous shells. The muscles move +their bodies. + +The muscles are very, very strong. + +They are stronger for their size than the muscles of a horse. + +John, do you know how heavy a load a horse can pull? + +Well, it cannot pull a load equal to the weight of its own body. + +Now, listen to this,--almost any insect can pull a load that is five +times the weight of its body! + +Ah, yes, some insects can pull a much heavier weight than that. The +honey bee, for instance, can pull a load twenty times as heavy as its +body. + +And think how our little insect friends can jump! Why, a kangaroo cannot +begin to jump like a grasshopper. + +No, indeed, Ned, the finest jumper in the world of men cannot begin to +jump as well as a grasshopper, not even with the aid of a spring board. +He is a mere baby in comparison. + +Ah, yes, we can do a great many things better than the grasshoppers, +but, you see, they can do some things better than we can. + +What is that, John? + +You want to know about the mouth parts of the grasshopper? + +Suppose we leave the mouth parts. + +They are difficult to understand. We have had a good many new names to +learn lately. + +What, May? You can't remember such hard words? + +Oh, yes, of course you can. + +You don't mind learning "rhinoceros," and "Mississippi," and +"Popocatepetl," and "eenie, meenie, monie mike," and they are quite as +hard as femur and tibia; and, besides, you have a femur yourself! Did +you know it? + +Your thigh bone, like the grasshopper's thigh, is called a femur. + +Yes, Mollie, there is a bone in your leg called the tibia, and you have +a tarsus in your foot. + +So, after all, when you are learning hard words about insects you are +learning a great deal besides, as you will find. + +[Illustration] + + + + +PRETTY KATYDIDS + +[Illustration] + + +Katy did! + +Katy didn't! + +Katy did! + +Well, well, did she or didn't she, and what of it anyway. + +Come here, Katy did and Katy didn't, the children want to see you. + +She's a pretty little Did and Didn't, isn't she. + +Katy, why do you not know your own mind and always tell the same story? + +Krick--krick--krick, there, she is talking; that's her way of saying +"Katy did." + +Krick--krick--krickkrick. Now she has said "Katy didn't." + +Well, we never shall know anything more about it. + +No, little Nell, she doesn't really say Katy did or Katy didn't, but it +sounds like that, and we make believe she says it. + +John says he is sure the katydids are first cousins to the grasshoppers +and locusts, and so they are. + +They are very closely related to--which division of locusts, do you +think? + +Oh, yes, the longhorned, of course. + +See their long, long antennae, and the male has the same little musical +places on his wings, little membranes that vibrate and make his song of +Katy did and Katy didn't. + +[Illustration] + +No, the little lady katydid cannot sing--only the little male, and he +keeps it up all night long. + +We sometimes wish he would get tired or sleepy and stop, but he never +does. + +Why do you suppose he likes to sing so well in the night? + +The katydids generally live on trees and bushes. + +Yes, they are a beautiful, pale green people, and that is one reason we +do not often see them. It is not easy to find a katydid among the green +leaves. + +The female katydids have a long sword-shaped ovipositor with which they +roughen the bark on twigs, and place the eggs there, fastening them with +a gummy substance. + +The egg is glued fast so it will not fall off. + +It hatches into a little dot of a katydid that has no wings, but, like +the larvae of the other insects we know about, it eats and grows and +moults, and at last its wings and the rest of its body are full grown. + +It casts its skin for the last time; it is no longer a larva, but a +full-grown insect. + +Yes, May, we call the young of all insects larvae. + +[Illustration] + +See this dainty katydid that Charlie has caught for us. + +How pretty it is! + +Its feelers are like long green threads. + +And how sensitive they are! + +It quickly starts away when we touch one of the feelers. + +Yes, Mollie, the katydid walks more than the grasshopper. + +It can jump well with those long, slender hind legs. How beautiful its +hind legs are! They are longer and more delicate than those of the +grasshopper. + +And its wings, how gauzy and dainty! Its wing covers are not so stiff as +those of the grasshopper. They look almost like flying wings, they are +so delicate. + +See, they open, and fasten themselves open, like the wing covers of the +grasshopper; and when they are at rest they overlap like the wings of +the grasshopper. + +The inner wings are like fine lace. + +They look too delicate for use, and yet the katydid flies very well +indeed with them. + +They are a little longer than the wing covers. + +[Illustration] + +When the katydid is at rest you can see the tips of the wings extending +beyond the ends of the wing covers. + +The part of the inner wing that extends beyond the wing covers is green, +like the wing covers, you see. + +But the rest of the inner wing is not green, it is like very thin glass, +or like fine isinglass. + +Look for a moment at the long curved ovipositor of the female katydid. + +If you look sharp, you will see teeth on it like a little saw. It is +with these teeth the little katydid is able to rasp the surface of the +twigs, and make a place to fasten her eggs to. + +Her wings are wrapped about her form like an ample cloak of green. + +[Illustration] + +Now, my little katydid, you may fly away if you want to. + +We are very much obliged to you for letting us look at you, and we hope +we have not troubled you too much. + +See her go! + +How prettily the katydids fly. + +They seem almost like little birds. + +I am sure they love to fly about in the bright summer-time. + +Happy katydids. + + + + +THE CRICKET-LIKE GRASSHOPPERS + +[Illustration] + + +Now what strange-looking little creature are you? + +John says it looks like a grasshopper, only it has no wings and its body +is not that of a grasshopper. + +May says it looks like a cricket, only it has the long legs of a +grasshopper. + +It is called the cricket-like grasshopper, and it is partly like a +cricket, as you see, and partly like a grasshopper. + +It is a funny little fellow that lives around in dark corners, usually +in the woods. + +Do see those long, spiny legs! + +[Illustration] + +How he _can_ jump. + +He has strong, short, sharp spines on the femurs and on the tibias. + +He has spines on all his legs, and what long feet he has! + +Yes, Nell, his antennae are longer than anything else about him. I +should think they would be in his way. + +He has no wings at all, and he never will have any. + +He has two pairs of feelers in front of his mouth that show very +plainly. They show more plainly than the mouth parts of the grasshopper, +though they are quite like them. + +Yes, Ned, they are larger than the mouth parts of the grasshopper. + +There is another little fellow very similar to the cricket-like +grasshopper. + +It has no wings, and the top of the thorax is like a broad shield. + +It is called the shield-backed grasshopper. + +See if you can find one of them. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE CHEERY CRICKET PEOPLE + +[Illustration] + + +Chirp! chirp! + +Chirp! chirp! + +Ah, listen to that cheery song. It is the cricket on the hearth singing +thus gayly. + +Dear little cricket; he lives in the corner by the fireplace. When all +is still we hear his cheery chirp! chirp! chirp! + +Sometimes he comes peering out and runs across the hearth, a little +black fireside fairy. + +Do you know one of the prettiest stories in the world has been written +about a cricket? + +Charles Dickens wrote it, and it is called "The Cricket on the Hearth." + +Be sure to read this beautiful story. If you do not own it, ask to have +it for Christmas. It is in the book of "Christmas Tales," a book that +everybody ought to have. + +Grasshoppers and katydids are pleasant people, but they live out of +doors, and they do not seem quite so much like our very own little +friends as the crickets. + +Of course the crickets live out of doors, too, only once in a while one +of them comes into the house to live with us. + +We hear them chirping in the grass and among the stones. + +[Illustration] + +There is a certain place near the seashore where the rocks are alive +with the black cricket folk. + +They come peeping out at you from all sides. They skip over the rocks, +and you will often see a pair of long feelers and an inquisitive little +head looking around a corner. + +You too, know there are crickets, little Nell? + +Let us go and see them. + +Ah, yes, there is one, looking at us out of inquisitive eyes, over there +by that big stone. + +[Illustration] + +Of course they are cousins to the grasshoppers. I knew you would guess +that right away. + +Yes, John, the little cricket people have flat backs. + +Their wing covers do not make a peaked roof over their backs, but are +flat on top and bent down at the sides like a box cover. + +[Illustration] + +They are not so long as the wings of the grasshopper, but they overlap +on top. + +Sometimes they are not so long as the body of the cricket. + +Just watch now! + +How spry the cricket folk are! + +They jump well, but they also run well. They are always running about as +though they enjoyed it. + +It is not easy to catch one of them unless we, too, are "as spry as a +cricket." + +Funny little rascals, to come peeping at us like that, from out the +crevices in the stones. + +When we stir,--pop! they are back out of sight. + +They eat leaves, and they enjoy a piece of nice, ripe fruit, or a bit of +juicy vegetable. + +See here, one has jumped on my hand and is sitting quite still. + +It is a male cricket. + +[Illustration] + +How do I know that? + +May says because it has no ovipositor. + +Yes, that is one way to know. + +Look at his wing covers. + +[Illustration: MALE CRICKET] + +See how they are ribbed. + +[Illustration: FEMALE CRICKET] + +Now look at this cricket Mabel has caught. It is a female, and its +wings, you see, are not ornamented like those of the male. + +[Illustration] + +Do you know the meaning of his heavily ribbed wing covers? + +Why, his wing covers are his musical instruments. See one of them +magnified. + +It is divided into spaces like so many little drum-heads. The ridge that +runs across the top of the wing is something like a file in structure. + +When little Mr. Cricket is in the mood for chirping, he raises his wing +covers and rubs them together. + +This throws the stiff membranes of which the wing covers are made into +vibration, and the result is the cheery call of our little black fairy. + +Little Nell says the cricket is more like a brownie than a fairy, and +maybe she is right. + +You can easily see the crickets rub their wings together if you watch in +the fall of the year. + +John says, Why do you have to watch in the fall of the year? + +Now who can guess? + +Yes, May, it is because the crickets are then full-grown, and have +large wing covers. At first, in the early summer, they have no wings, +and so of course, we could not see them chirp. + +The whole grasshopper tribe is a vocal one; the males all have musical +instruments, and in Japan, the people are so fond of the song of _their_ +grasshopper folk, which are not quite like ours, that they make tiny +cages for them. + +The chirpers are caught and put in these cages, and sold in the city +streets. + +Yes, little Nell, the crickets make molasses. So do the katydids. + +All these little hopping neighbors of ours seem to understand the useful +art of molasses making. + +The mole crickets are different from the others. + +[Illustration] + +They burrow in the ground like a mole, and we do not often see them. + +The strangest thing about them is their hands. + +No, of course they are not really hands, but they look like them. + +All the joints of the fore legs are modified to form strong digging +tools, and they look very much like the paws of the mole. + +[Illustration] + +They are troublesome fellows, sometimes, when they eat the tender roots +of the vegetables in the garden. + +You all have seen the little tree cricket, but you might not recognize +it as a cricket, it is such a pale little creature. + +Its light green body may often be seen on bushes in the summer-time, +and, if you look carefully, the form will tell you what the little one +is. + +[Illustration] + + + + +A LARGE FAMILY + +[Illustration] + + +The crickets, grasshoppers, walking sticks, praying mantes, and +cockroaches, strange as it may seem, are all near relatives to each +other. + +They all belong to one large family or order, the ORTHOPTERA. + +Or-thop-te-ra, is it not a hard word! + +It will not seem so hard when you know what it means. + +It comes from two Greek words _orthos_, meaning straight, and _pteron_, +meaning a wing. + +Straight-wing. + +And do you know, it does not mean that the _upper_ wings are straight, +but that the under wings are folded down in long straight lines. + +Now let us see if we can tell in what ways all of our Orthoptera are +alike. + +They all have--? + +"Four wings"--that is right, little Nell. + +What, John? the walking sticks have no wings? + +[Illustration] + +Not our walking sticks, but yet they belong to a winged family. You +remember the tropical walking sticks that have queer leaf-like wings, do +you not? + +Are the four wings alike? + +No, John says, the upper ones are narrow and stiff and serve as wing +covers. + +The inner ones are broader and more delicate. They fold up when not in +use and are used to fly with. + +Very good indeed, John. Now I will tell you something. The Orthoptera +all have mouth parts made to bite with. They do not bite anything but +what they eat, however. They are quite harmless so far as we are +concerned. + +The young Orthoptera look like the old ones, only they have no wings. +They hatch out of the egg with a head, a six-legged thorax, and an +abdomen. + +Now, come, let us look at all of our orthopterous friends again, +cockroaches first. + +[Illustration] + +How do they get about, John? + +Yes, indeed, they run, the rascals. They run fast too. They are flat and +their six legs are very much alike. They are well built for running and +hiding in cracks. + +Suppose we call them the _Running Orthoptera_. + +Now, look at our mantis. + +He does not run very much. How is he different from the others? + +Ah, yes, he has big front legs, and little Nell says he grabs things +with them. + +[Illustration] + +So he does. Now, what shall we call these grabbers? + +The Grabbing Orthoptera, Ned says. + +Suppose we say instead the _Grasping Orthoptera_, because grasping +sounds a little better than grabbing. Do you not think so? + +[Illustration] + +Now for Mr. Walking Stick. + +We cannot very well call him a member of the Running Orthoptera, can we? + +Ah, Mollie has it. We must call his kind the _Walking Orthoptera_. + +His six legs are all long and slender, and he moves them slowly. + +[Illustration] + +Now for those fellows with the long hind legs, the locusts and katydids +and crickets. Yes, all of you are ready to name them. + +We call them--what? + +May says, the Hopping Orthoptera. + +John thinks Jumping Orthoptera would sound better. + +And that is what we name them, the _Jumping Orthoptera_. + +How many kinds of Jumping Orthoptera are we acquainted with, Ned? Now, +think before you speak. + +He says we know the shorthorned grasshoppers, or locusts, the +longhorned, or meadow, grasshoppers, and the crickets. + +Very well done, Ned. + +May wants to know what has become of the katydids and the cricket-like +grasshoppers--she thinks Ned has left them out. + +Ned says they belong to the longhorned grasshoppers. + +Now you shall have a list of the Orthoptera that will help you to +remember them. + +If we can group together things that are like each other, it is easier +to remember them. + + ORDER ORTHOPTERA. + + _Running Orthoptera._ + Cockroaches, Croton Bugs. + _Grasping Orthoptera._ + Praying Mantis. + _Walking Orthoptera._ + Walking Sticks. + _Jumping Orthoptera._ + Shorthorned Grasshoppers, or Locusts. + Longhorned, or Meadow, Grasshoppers. + Crickets. + +There are a great many species of Orthoptera in the world, and we have +seen but a very few of them. + +But I can tell you, we feel a little better acquainted with you +orthopterous fellows than we did. + +The dragon fly says we have not given him a place. + +But, dear dragon fly, you belong to another family. You are not an +orthopterous insect. + +Your order is called the ODO-NA-TA. + +The wings of the Odonata are very different from those of the +Orthoptera. + +[Illustration] + +You remember how they are? + +Yes, Ned, they are stiff and covered with a close network of fine veins, +and all four of them are alike. + +No wing covers, you see. + +I do not know why they have the name Odonata. + +The young Odonata are not like their parents, excepting that they have a +head, a thorax with six legs, and an abdomen. But they certainly do not +look like their parents! + +No, John, the May flies do not belong to the Odonata. Their wings are +quite different. + +[Illustration] + +Do you not remember how small the hind wings are? + +The name of their order is EPH-E-MER-I-DA. + +There is a big name for a little insect! + +It comes from the Greek word _ephemeros_, and you know what it means. + +What? Has everybody forgotten about the dainty little ephemerae, that +live but a day? + +That is what _ephemeros_ means, lasting but a day. + +The stone flies have four wings, but they are not like those of the +Odonata, or of the Ephemerida. + +Do you remember how the hind wings are folded? + +Yes, May, in plaits, so these are the plaited wings, or +PLE-COP-TE-RA, from _pteran_, a wing, and _plecos_, plaited. + +The little silver fish, as you remember, has no wings at all, +so its order is called THY-SA-NU-RA, from its bristle tail, +_thysanos_, in Greek, meaning a tassel, and _oura_, the tail. + + + + +HEMIPTERA + + + + +THE GREAT BUG FAMILY + +[Illustration] + + +Now, my children, do you know what a bug is? Most people do not. + +They call every insect a "bug," but bugs are bugs, flies are flies, ants +are ants, and neither flies nor ants are bugs. + +Indeed, no insects are bugs--excepting just bugs! + +Our croton bugs are not really bugs. They do not belong to the bug +family. + +[Illustration] + +A bug has four wings--when it has any. + +But its wings are not like those of the Orthoptera or Odonata or +Ephemerida or Plecoptera. + +Some bugs have no wings. + +Young bugs are like old bugs, only smaller, and they have no wings. + +You remember the Orthoptera and Odonata bite their food. + +They chew it up and swallow it. + +Bugs do not bite, they suck. Their mouth parts are often grown together +in the form of a tube that is sometimes very sharp. + +They stick these sharp tubes or beaks into their food, and suck it up. + + + + +THE WATER BOATMAN + + +What, May; you want to see a bug? Well, that is easy enough. + +Here is one in this pond at our feet. Do you know it? + +[Illustration] + +Yes, John; it is the water boatman. + +Nell says she doesn't see it. + +There, Nell, that little thing that shines like silver under the water. +It is clinging to a weed. + +No, we cannot see it very well unless we catch it. + +Ned, do you think you can be spry enough to scoop it out with the net? + +There, he has it,--no, it is off. + +Well, we shall never see that one again; but here, in this corner of the +pond, see, several of them. + +[Illustration] + +Now don't be in too great a hurry, Ned; they are hard to catch. + +He has it! + +Here, don't touch it,--bugs are biters, remember. + +Put it in this tumbler of water, and clap the cover over +it--quick--so!--now we have it. + +What is that, Mollie? I just said bugs do not bite, and now I call them +biters? + +I don't wonder you are puzzled. + +They do _not_ bite, but they pierce with their mouth tubes, and that +feels just as though they bit us. So we commonly speak of bugs as +biting. + +If you wish to be very exact, we will hereafter speak of bugs as +piercing or sucking. + +Now, Mr. Water Boatman, we are going to have a good look at you. + +Nell says it is not like silver any more, but just a little black and +gray speckled bug. + +That is because it is now on top of the water. When it goes under it is +surrounded with a layer of air, and that is what makes it look as though +it had on a silver dress. + +May wants to know how it manages to take a layer of air down under the +water. If you were to look at it with a magnifying glass, May, you would +see it is covered with fine hairs; the air becomes entangled in these +hairs. Do you not remember how the leaf of the jewel weed, or +touch-me-not, as it is also called, shines when you plunge it in water? +It, too, is covered with fine hairs that hold air. Many leaves shine in +this way when put under water, and always because of the fine hairs +that prevent the air from being pushed out by the water. You see the +hairs on the bugs serve the same purpose as those on the leaves; they +hold fast the air. + +Our water boatman breathes this air that surrounds him. + +You know how insects breathe do you not? + +Dear me, then I shall have to tell you. + +They have no lungs; of course, so they cannot breathe with lungs as we +do. + +Take a long breath--see how your chest rises--that is because you filled +your lungs full of air. + +Well, the insects have to breathe air. + +Every living thing has to breathe air. Nothing in the world could live +without air. + +Even plants breathe the air, you know. + +Now, there is a little row of holes or pores along each side of the +abdomen of the insect. + +These are the breathing pores. No, May, the insects do not breathe +through their mouths, they breathe through their sides. + +[Illustration] + +You can see the breathing pores, or spiracles, as they are called, very +plainly in many insects. + +You can see them on the abdomen of the locust, and in some caterpillars +they are bright-colored spots. + +There are spiracles on the sides of the thorax, too, but they do not +show so plainly as those on the abdomen. + +The spiracles open into air tubes that carry air to the blood of the +insect. + +[Illustration: _Spiracles_] + +If you watch a grasshopper or a bee, you can plainly see it breathe. The +abdomen moves in the bee as though it were panting. These movements of +the abdomen cause the air to go in and out. All insects move their +abdomens to send the air in and out, but it does not show plainly in all +of them, for, though insects need air, some of them can get along with +very little. + +Yes, John, insects have blood. It is not just like our blood, but still +it is blood. + +It is not generally red in color, though sometimes it is reddish, and +sometimes it is brown, or violet, or even bright green. + +Yes, that seems strange to you, but you remember how ears are ears, and +serve to hear with, no matter where on the body of the creature they are +located. So blood is blood, and serves the purpose of blood, no matter +what its color. The blood of some insects has a very bad odor, and in +the case of certain beetles, when they are disturbed, this foul-smelling +liquid oozes out of the joints of the legs. + +Yes, Mabel, it is probably used, like the "molasses" of other little +friends we know, to repel enemies. + +But to return to breathing. Some larvae breathe by gills, and do not have +spiracles until they are grown up, but all grown-up insects breathe by +spiracles. + +Yes, John, the larvae of the dragon flies and May flies breathe with +gills. + +I thought you would remember that. + +The water boatman breathes by spiracles, and carries his supply of air +with him. All grown-up bugs breathe by spiracles. + +Now look down into the pond. I think you will see some water boatmen +anchored near the bottom. + +Yes, May, they cling by their front feet. Their hind pair of legs are +rather odd-looking; they have a fringe of hairs on the inside. + +John says their hind legs are modified to swim with. + +Very good, John. + +The hind legs are the oars that row these little boats about in the +water. + +But why are the little boats that have come to anchor down there moving +their paddles so constantly? + +Ah, yes; it is because they want fresh air to breathe. + +You know there is always air in pond water, and they keep their paddles +moving, so as to change the envelope of air that surrounds them. + +[Illustration] + +They know what to do to take care of themselves, if they _are_ nothing +but little bugs. + +When winter comes, they go down to the bottom of the pond and bury +themselves in the mud. They lie there without moving or breathing until +spring, when out they come, as lively as ever. + +Yes, certain other animals pass the winter in this way; the bears, for +instance, find a snug den and sleep all through the coldest winter +weather. We call this winter sleep of animals hibernation, and many of +the insects hibernate. + +Yes, Ned, hibernating animals can get on with very little air; they +sometimes seem to need none at all, and they take no food. + +May wants to know what these queer water boatmen eat. + +They suck out the juices of other insects. + +They must lay their eggs in the water, little Nell thinks. + +And so they do, on water plants. + +Near the city of Mexico there are species that lay enormous quantities +of eggs in the ponds, and what do you think? The Indians mix these eggs +with meal, make them into cakes, and eat them. + +The Mexican bugs are gathered by the ton, too, and sent to England as +food for cage birds, fish, and poultry. + +Little Nell thinks there must be a great many bugs in a ton. Indeed, +there are, probably about twenty-five millions of them; so you can +imagine Mexico is well supplied with water boatmen! + +When the young ones hatch out they look like their parents, only, of +course, they are tiny little dots of things that have no wings. + +But they eat and grow and moult like other larvae until they are +full-grown insects. + +What have you discovered, Ned? You look surprised. + +The water boatman has no antennae! + +It doesn't seem to have any. But look carefully and I think you will +find some tiny ones tucked away under its head. + +Nell wants to know if the water boatman has a thorax and an abdomen. + +Indeed, it has, but you will have to look carefully to see them. Its +abdomen is short and thick and hard. The water boatman is much more +compact in form than the Orthoptera, or any of the other insects we have +studied. + +You are right, John, an insect with a long abdomen, like the +grasshopper, could not get on very well in the water. + +Now, May, take the cover off the tumbler. There! + +Our water boatman was not slow to make use of his wings. + +Well, good-by and good luck to you, little water boatman. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE FUNNY BACK-SWIMMERS + + +What, John? You know a water boatman that swims on its back? + +That makes Nell laugh, and no wonder. + +Yes, there is a little bug that swims on its back. + +[Illustration] + +It is very much like the water boatman, and it has long paddles made of +its queer hind legs. + +Unlike the water boatman, however, its back is not flat but is shaped +like the keel of a boat. + +This being the case, it just turns over and swims with its keel-shaped +back in the water. + +It is sometimes called the back-swimmer, and most boys are well +acquainted with it. + +What do you think about catching it in your fingers, Ned? + +Ah, you do not like to! + +It has a very sharp beak for sucking the life out of other insects, and +if you succeed in getting hold of it, it will stick that into your +finger. + +And my! how it does sting! + +It is not an easy matter to catch it, however,--it is such a quick +little rascal. + + + + +THE GIANT WATER BUG + +[Illustration] + + +A good many kinds of bugs live in the water, but perhaps the oddest of +all is the giant water bug. + +It _is_ a giant! + +Have you ever seen very large, flat brown bugs lying on the ground under +the electric street lamps? + +Those are the giant water bugs. + +They fly in the night from pond to pond, and are attracted by bright +lights. + +They fly into the electric lights, and are killed in great numbers +sometimes. + +This is such a common habit with them that in some places they are +called electric light bugs. + +A good many people never saw these bugs until they were found dead +under the electric lights, and so they imagined they did not exist until +electric lights were invented. + +But that is a very foolish notion; the bugs were here thousands of years +before electric lights were dreamed of. + +The giant water bugs are not pleasant to handle when alive. + +If you ever succeed in catching one in the water, which is not easy, +they slip about so quickly, be sure and not take it in your fingers. + +The California children call a species they have there "toe-biters," and +they say they bite their toes when they go in wading. + +The giant water bugs are the largest of living bugs, and they even kill +and eat fish. + +Their fore legs can shut up like a jackknife. The tibia shuts into a +groove in the femur, and thus the bug is able to seize and hold its +prey. + +It clasps its victim in its arms, as it were, and calmly proceeds to +suck out its blood. + +In some species of the giant water bugs the female does not leave her +eggs in the pond to take care of themselves; she puts them on the back +of her mate, who is obliged to carry all of his progeny about with him +until they relieve him by hatching out and swimming off to see life for +themselves. + + + + +LITTLE MRS. SHORE BUG + +[Illustration] + + +May says she wants to hear more about bugs. Well, there is little Mrs. +Shore Bug. I think you must all know her. + +She is the little bug that flies along in front of you on the seashore, +or, indeed, on the edge of any body of water. + +She flits along just in front of you, and is so quick in her motions +that you will hardly ever catch her. + +She does not fly far--she alights just far enough ahead to make you try +again to capture her, but when you think you have her, she isn't there! + +[Illustration] + +She has sped off on one of her short flights, and so she will continue +to do as long as you continue to chase her. + + + + +THE AIRY WATER STRIDERS + + +Then there are the water striders. + +They are bugs, and it is easy to guess how they got their name. + +You surely remember the longlegged, dark colored fellows that straddle +about on top of the water, in ponds or in still pools in streams? + +Who has not tried to catch them! + +And how very seldom any one succeeds! + +May knows where we can see some water striders close at hand. + +They are on the pond in the meadow. Let us go. + +Ah, you little ones! There you are, scampering over the water on your +airy, fairy feet, as though you were on dry land. + +[Illustration] + +How they flash about! And what cunning dimples their little feet make on +the water when they stand still! + +If we keep very quiet, they will stop darting about in that wild way, +and we can see them better. + +Now, water striders, why do you behave so, and what do you eat? + +Eat? Why, insects, of course. And as to behavior, they may well wonder +more at ours than we at theirs. + +They skate about on the surface of the water all summer, and when winter +comes they hide away at the bottom of the pond, right under the water, +or along the edges of the banks. + +When the warm spring sunshine wakes up the sleeping plants, then the +little water striders wake up too. + +Out they come, to resume their endless skating and insect catching, but +now they lay their eggs, gluing them fast to water weeds. + +The young water striders look like their parents, and they, too, like to +go circling and flashing over the top of the water, with their long legs +spread out. + + + + +A QUEER FELLOW + + +What do you suppose is in this box? + +Little Nell may open it. + +There, out he comes--slowly, as though he were looking around and +thinking about it. + +[Illustration] + +May says, "Hello, Mr. Walking Stick, you here again?" + +Ho! ho! _is_ it Mr. Walking Stick? + +You look again. + +Mollie thinks, if she were going to name it, she would call it Mr. +Walking Threads. + +Yes, it is more slender than even the walking stick. + +What is that, John? You thought insects had six legs, and this has only +four? + +Now, here is something for us to think about. + +Ned says it has six long threads that might be legs, but it does not +walk on the two front ones. + +It seems to use them as antennae. + +[Illustration] + +Ned says those front ones look to him to be jointed just like the +others, and he thinks they are legs. + +Mollie says they have no little feet like the others, and she thinks +they are antennae. + +Well, well, what are we to do? Think of its having feelers that look +like legs or legs that look like feelers, so that you cannot tell which +they are! + +Now it is beginning to move, and--Oh, ho, that long part in front is not +its head! + +[Illustration] + +See, it separates into two--what? + +Surely, two front legs. + +See, they were folded up, somewhat like the front legs of the mantis, +only these could fold close together, being threadlike. + +So the long threads are antennae after all. + +Now it has raised its head, which we easily see is quite round, with +tiny eyes, and the antennae are growing out from the front of it. + +What is it? A walking stick? A mantis? + +[Illustration] + +Why! why! There it goes, sailing off in the air with a queer little +fluttering motion of its whole body. + +It has wings! + +John has caught it and brought it back. + +Now let us see those wings, you strange little creature. + +You will have to look close, but there they are, narrow, short, such +tiny wings! How _do_ you suppose it flies with them? + +You seem queerer and queerer the more we look at you, little +what-shall-we-call-you. + +But we know you are not a walking stick because our walking sticks have +no wings. + +The truth is you are a--bug! + +Yes, this little threadlike creature belongs to the same order as the +big flat giant water bug. + +It grasps its victim, in its fore feet like the mantis, but instead of +biting its prey it sucks out the juices. + +You would hardly expect such a delicate creature to catch and kill other +insects, yet such is the case. + +No, I do not think it will pierce your finger with its beak. I have +often handled them, and have never been stung by one. We often see them +walking about in the grass and along paths. + + + + +THE WELL DRESSED LACE BUG + +[Illustration: HAWTHORN TWIG.] + + +IF we pay a visit to that hawthorn bush we shall probably find +a bug to our liking. Yes, here is one. + +It is a tiny thing, I know, but wait until you see it under the +microscope. + +Ah, I thought you would be pleased! + +Nell says it looks as though it had on a lace party dress. + +Is it not a dainty fairy! + +We call it the lace bug. + +It does not suck the juices of other insects, but instead it sucks the +juices of plants. + +Its eggs are very curious. It lays them on leaves and glues them fast. +They look like little out-growths of the leaf. + +The young lace bugs are like their parents in form, only, of course, +they have no wings and so they are not pretty. + +[Illustration] + +Fairy lace bug, we are glad to make your acquaintance. + + + + +A BAD BUG + +[Illustration] + + +Now, here is a bug we all loathe. It is round and flat, and reddish +brown in color, and it has a disgusting odor. + +But though we hate this bug, it is very fond of us. It has a short, +sharp tube folded down under its head, and this tube it likes to raise +up and stick into the skin of people, and suck out their blood. + +It has no wings, only a pair of little scales where its wings should be. +Yes, May, these scales are rudimentary wings, and they are good for +nothing. It once had wings, but it preferred to go slipping about in +cracks and hiding in beds, until in course of time no wings grew, which +served it right. + +It has antennae and eyes and spiracles; indeed, it has everything a bug +should have but wings and good manners. + +We call it the bed bug because its favorite home is in beds, so that it +can sally forth at night and feast upon its sleeping victims. + +It lays its eggs in cracks and crevices, and each egg is like a little +jar with a rim and a lid at the top. When the young one hatches it +pushes off the lid. The young are in shape like their parents, only they +are very light colored, and almost transparent. They look like ghosts of +bugs, but they are very voracious ghosts indeed, and they eat and moult +and grow and become darker colored until they reach maturity. + +One strange thing about them is that they can live a very long time with +nothing to eat, so that houses long vacated may still contain these +nuisances, that sally forth, eager to round out their emaciated forms at +the expense of the new occupants of the house. + +The barn swallow is sadly afflicted by a species of these unwelcome +visitors to its nest, and the poor bats are also victimized by a species +of bed bug. + +The bad odor comes from a liquid poured out of the back of young bugs, +and from the under side of old ones. + +These insects are very undesirable acquaintances, and they breed so fast +that even one, brought into a house, may cause it to become generally +infested in a few weeks. + +Eternal vigilance and great cleanliness are the housekeeper's only +safeguards. + +There are some species of bugs that closely resemble the bed bugs, only +they have wings, and live on flowers or in the cracks of the bark of +trees. + + + + +THE TROUBLESOME RED BUG + +[Illustration] + + +There are a great many kinds of bugs on the leaves and flowers in +summer, and some of them do much damage by eating the vegetation. + +One of the most troublesome of these is the red bug. Here is a picture +of one. + +Its wings look as if they had an X drawn on them. + +Let us spread out one of the wings. + +Why do you all laugh? + +Sure enough, Ned, how _can_ we spread out the wings of a bug in a +picture? + +[Illustration] + +But there is a way out of that difficulty. + +Yes, another picture. + +Only the upper wings are spread out. + +You see, the half of the wing next the body is stiff like a wing cover, +and the other half is thin and silky, and folds up under the stiff part. +When the insect flies it spreads out the under wings, too, for there is +a pair of thin, flying wings folded on the body under these upper wings. + +These upper wings, that are half wing cover and half flying wing, are +characteristic of the bug order. + +Not all the bugs have them, but a great many have. + +The name of the bug order is HEM-IP-TERA, meaning half-wing. +You see why. + +Yes, John, the word "hemiptera" comes from two Greek words, _hemi_, +meaning half, and, as you know, _pteron_, meaning a wing. + +The young red bugs are like the old ones, excepting in color. + +What do we call the young of insects, little Nell? + +Yes, we call them larvae. These red bug larvae are bright red with black +legs. + +They pierce the cotton plants in the South, and suck out the juices. + +Of course, they grow and moult until they arrive at the adult form. + +What, John? You do not know what "adult" means? Adult means "grown-up." + +It is a short way of saying grown-up; and after this, when we mean a +grown-up insect, let us say an adult insect. + +To return to the red bug. When it reaches the adult state, it is not +such a bright red, but rather of a reddish color with brownish wings +striped with light yellow. + +Beside eating the juices of the cotton plants and thus injuring or even +killing them, the red bugs stain the white cotton and spoil it. + +They are also troublesome in some parts of Florida, where they pierce +the skins of the oranges, and cause the fruit to decay. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE RAVENOUS CHINCH BUGS + + +There are a great many bugs injurious to vegetation, among them the +little chinch bugs. + +They are so small, each one no larger than a plant louse, that you would +not think they could do much harm. + +One of them could not, but when they appear in millions, then they are +terrible. + +Here is one magnified to show the white wing covers with black markings. + +[Illustration] + +Would you believe that this tiny insect has destroyed millions of +dollars' worth of grain in the United States? + +What, Charlie? you should think they could be killed out? That is a very +difficult task. You see they are so small, and they breed so fast. There +are two broods of them in one year, and when they have eaten one grain +field they start off, millions strong, to another. + +Of course a great many methods have been tried for getting rid of them, +and one very curious method you will like to hear about. + +You know insects are subject to diseases. + +What, Nell, you never heard of a sick bug? + +Yet it seems they are sick sometimes, and certain diseases kill them. +Chinch bugs are not as healthy in some places as in others. + +There is a contagious disease that kills them off in very great numbers. + +Ned says he can guess what remedy the people apply to the healthy chinch +bugs that are eating their grain. + +Yes, they introduce diseased chinch bugs into the grain fields with the +healthy ones. The contagion spreads and the bugs die! + +There is another way of getting rid of some kinds of troublesome +insects. That is, to introduce an insect not injurious to vegetation, +that will prey upon the injurious ones. + + + + +THE WELL PROTECTED STINK BUG + + +One of the bugs we know the best and like the least is the stink bug. + +It deserves its name. + +John says he had one on his hand this morning. + +How did you like it, John? + +Did any of you ever pick berries where these bugs were? + +See what a face Mollie is making! It is very evident that _she_ has. + +[Illustration: RED RASPBERRY.] + +What a nasty taste they give the delicious fruit. + +Even the flavor of the red raspberry is spoiled if one of these bugs +pollutes it. + +What makes them smell so? May is asking. + +The disgusting odor is caused by a liquid that is ejected out of little +pores on the under side of the thorax. + +The bug can eject this liquid when it pleases. + +Most members of the bug order can eject a disagreeable liquid, though +few of them do it so successfully as the stink bug. + +If the stink bug is not disturbed, it does not give forth the bad odor; +but when we jostle the bushes in getting the berries, that startles it, +and we get the benefit of its alarm. + +Yes, undoubtedly the bugs make a bad odor for the same reason the +grasshoppers make molasses. They wish to repel their enemies. + +Very few birds ever touch a stink bug. + +Nell thinks a bird would be crazy to eat a stink bug. + +Mollie says if it were not crazy when it began, it surely would be +before it got through! + +Not only the bugs make these disagreeable odors. + +Many other insects do. + +The cockroaches, as we know, and one reason we dislike them so is +because of this offensive odor. + +Some species of crickets, too, and indeed many, many insects give forth +odors from glands that exist just for that purpose. + +No, indeed, these odors are not all alike. Some have a strangling +quality like ammonia, and sometimes the odors are not disagreeable. Some +insects have sweet odors, like perfumes. + +[Illustration] + +The pleasant odors are not used to repel, but to attract. + +If an insect wishes to see its mate, it may be able to give forth a +pleasant odor that will reach a long way through the air, and the mate, +smelling it, will follow it to its source. You see, this pleasant odor +is one way of talking; at least it is one way of sending a message. + +Insects can detect odors much better than we can. + +No doubt many insects produce odors that affect other insects, but that +are so faint we cannot smell them at all. + +The sense of smell, even in the human being, is very wonderful. It is +the keenest of all the senses. + +You have studied weights and measures, and you know how small a quantity +a grain of anything is. Well, you will be astonished to know that your +nose can detect the presence of 1/2,760,000,000 of a grain of mercaptan, +a substance having a very bad smell. + +[Illustration] + +So you see, insects that can smell very, very much better than we would +be greatly influenced by the odors of other insects. + +Some of the stink bugs, although so disagreeable if disturbed, are very +useful to us, as they eat other insects injurious to vegetation. + +Most of them, however, eat fruits and vegetables, and some species do a +vast amount of mischief. + + + + +THE LOUSE + + +Yes, John, lice are bugs, and very mean bugs too. + +They have lived at the expense of other creatures so long that they +cannot exist unless they have a living body to feed on. + +Here is a picture of one very much enlarged. No wings, no beauty, a pale +white thing, all claws and mouth. + +[Illustration] + +It has a long sucking tube by which it pierces the skin, and a sucking +stomach by which it pumps the blood into its mouth. + +Such creatures are called parasites. + +Yes, bed bugs are parasites too. + +Besides the lice that live on human beings, there are species that +infest animals. + + + + +BIRD LICE AND BOOK LICE + + +Bird lice are not lice! + +That is, they do not belong to the bug order. + +They belong to a small order by themselves, but they are parasites like +the lice. + +The little white book lice that scurry away when we open an old book +that has been standing on the back shelf, are not lice, either; they +also belong to a little order of their own, and are constructed very +differently from the true lice. + + + + +FRIEND CICADA + + +WHIR-R-R-R-RRRRR!! + +May says she wishes that locust would keep quiet. It makes her warmer +than ever to hear him carrying on so this hot day. + +John says it is the weather that is warm, not the song of the locust. + +And yet, locusts generally sing during the hottest part of the summer, +so that we have learned to associate them with warm weather. + +Since we must listen to its shrill out-cry, I wish we could also see +it. + +Ah, that is a wish soon gratified! Here comes one out of John's pocket. + +[Illustration] + +John says it is _not_ a locust. + +Ah, yes, the shorthorned grasshoppers are the real locusts, and this +fellow has somehow got the name. + +But it is not a locust. + +It is also called the dog-day harvest fly, but it is not a fly, though +it looks considerably like one. + +Really, you know, it is a--bug! + +Yes, it belongs to the bug order. + +Its true name is cicada, and its shrill midsummer song has been famous +from the beginning of time. + +[Illustration] + +It looks like an enormous fly, but its mouth parts are the mouth parts +of the bug, and in other respects it resembles the members of the bug +order, when it is examined closely. + +What glassy wings! + +Let us spread them out carefully. Four of them it has. + +The cicada, you see, has no wing covers. Nor are its upper wings, half +wing cover, and half wing, like those of so many of the bugs. + +No, all four of its wings are alike, and all four are flying wings. + +When it is at rest, the inner wings slip out of sight under the outer +ones, which fold down like a roof over its body. + +See how beautifully the wings, are veined. + +You think cicada has a very broad back, Nell? + +So it has, and a broad head. + +[Illustration] + +See its black eyes on the corners of its head! + +How many facets have its eyes? + +I wish I knew, but I do not. This, however, I can tell you. If you look +on the top of its head between its compound eyes, with a magnifying +glass, you will find it has three little eyes there. + +These small eyes are simple, and are called _ocelli_. + +Many insects have ocelli, indeed, some of the grasshoppers have these +extra eyes on top of their head. + +May says the grasshoppers are very astonishing insects. + +You think you know all about them, and you are all the time finding out +something new. You would not be apt to notice these little ocelli on the +grasshopper's head, they are so small, and besides, some of the +grasshoppers do not have them. + +Yes, Mollie, it is the same with the crickets and katydids. Some species +have ocelli, and some have not. + +If you look full in the face of a cicada, you can see the three little +round ocelli between the compound eyes. + +[Illustration] + +They show very plainly with a magnifying glass. + +Indeed, it is difficult to explain what the ocelli are for. + +Some think they are to see objects close at hand, while the compound +eyes see more distant objects. + +Others think the ocelli are only capable of distinguishing light from +darkness. + +Yet others think they are merely a "survival" of the eyes of the worms. +You know, way back in time, before there were winged insects there were +worms. In some way the insects are descended from the worms, and though +they have got rid of many of their wormlike parts they still retain some +of them, and probably among these are the ocelli. + +When an animal of any kind keeps organs that belonged to its ancestors, +but that are of no use to it, we say these organs are "survivals." They +have not yet had time wholly to disappear. + +Yes, John, the time may come when the ocelli will disappear from the +insects. A good many insects have lost them already. + +Indeed, you are right, May; they have lost them because they did not use +them. When an animal ceases to use an organ in course of time, for lack +of exercise, that organ dwindles away and disappears. It generally takes +a very long time for this to happen. + +Yes, Mabel, thousands or even millions of years may pass before an organ +that has gone out of use entirely disappears. As generations succeed +each other each generation loses a little power in that organ until, +finally, there is no organ left. + +John is puzzled to know just what is meant by an organ. It is some +particular part of the creature. An arm is an organ, a stomach is an +organ, an eye is an organ. The whole creature is made up of organs, and +is called an _organism_. + +Your whole body, John, is an organism, but your legs and arms are +organs. Now, I think you understand. + +Our cicada has one organ that is very interesting; it is the little +apparatus by which it sings. + +Turn it over, Ned, and all of you look at the two thin plates lying +against the abdomen just below the thorax. + +Those membranes are like two little kettle drums, and they are its song +organs. + +There are other membranes beneath them, and large muscles within the +body to move the membranes. + +The membranes being set in rapid vibration we get the shrill cry of the +locust. + +Only the male has the kettle drums. In the female these organs are +rudimentary, and she is dumb. + +[Illustration] + +Cicada, you are a pretty little thing with your clear, glasslike wings +and your black body with red and green trimming. See its mouth lying in +that little groove under its head. It is a tube, and sharp. The cicada +sticks it into a leaf or young twig to suck out the juice. + +Nell wants to know if the young cicadas are like the old ones. Indeed, +they would be cunning little things if they were, and--yes, they _would_ +look very much like flies. + +But the young cicadas are queer babies, indeed. They do not look very +much like their parents, although they have a head, a thorax, and an +abdomen. + +[Illustration] + +The female cicada makes a slit in the bark of the tree twig with her +ovipositor and lays the eggs there. As soon as they hatch out, the tiny +cicadas drop down to the ground and burrow into the earth. + +You would not know that they are cicadas, they are such queer-looking +little things. But they have strong, sucking mouth parts with which they +pierce holes in the roots of trees and suck out the juices. + +Of course these larvae grow and moult and continue to do so until they +have moulted a good many times and grown quite large. + +They stay down under the ground two years. + +At the end of that time they crawl up to the surface of the earth in the +early summer. + +They climb trees, or weeds, or fence posts, and then the skin splits +down the back for the last time, and out comes a full-grown cicada with +bright glassy wings. + +The wings of the larva do not grow at each moult like the wings of the +grasshopper. + +The larva never gets beyond short little wing pads. See John's eyes +twinkling! I believe--yes, he has! He has brought us the cast-off skin +of a cicada to look at. + +[Illustration] + +Why, John, you are like a good fairy to us to-day, giving us just the +things we want just when we want them. + +Now, see this little shell. See the front legs, like strong paws to dig +with. And see its little glassy eyes, and its little wing pads! + +It is a perfect cast of the cicada larva. + +Yes, May, this little cast is made of chitin, and it will last a long +time. Chitin is a very indestructible substance; even fire will not +destroy it, but in course of time the moisture and the acids in the +earth destroy it, so that at last the millions of cicada shells and +grasshopper cast-off skins, which are also of chitin, and cricket +moults, and all the other little cast-aside chitinous overcoats of the +insects, return again to the earth and the air whence they came. The +minerals and gases that compose them let go of each other, as it were, +and the chitin is no longer chitin. + +Amy says she has seen these little cicada shells hundreds of times but +did not know what they were. + +Yes, we are sure to find them almost every summer. + +If we look, we will also find other larvae shells. Down in the grass are +the cast-off coats of the grasshoppers and the crickets. + +All we need do is to look, and we shall be sure to find them--like +unsubstantial ghosts of the active little wearers. + +No doubt you all have heard of the seventeen-year locusts. They, too, +are cicadas, and they look very much like this one, only it takes the +young ones seventeen years to complete their growth. + +Think of living in the ground and sucking the juices out of the earth +and of tree roots for seventeen years! + +[Illustration] + +How would you like to do it? + +But no doubt the cicada is quite happy living in this way. + +At the end of seventeen years the cicadas come up out of the earth in +great swarms. + +They cast their skins for the last time. The queer little shells are +seen everywhere, and the air resounds with the songs of the freed +prisoners. + +In the South it takes only thirteen years for these cicadas to develop. + +[Illustration] + +I once went up the side of a beautiful mountain in North Carolina, where +was such a mighty host of cicadas in the trees that I could not hear my +companion speak, and a little way off the noise sounded like a torrent +of rushing water. + + + + +THE ODD SPITTLE INSECT + + +Why, little Nell! What is the matter? + +You do wish the frogs would stop spitting on the grass? + +Let me see; why, poor child, she is all covered with frog spittle. + +That is kind, Ned. See, he is wiping her apron off with some fresh, +clean leaves. Let us rest awhile under this shady tree. + +John, pick that grass blade with the frog spittle on it. Be careful not +to disturb it. + +[Illustration] + +There is a surprise in store for you; this white frothy substance that +is so abundant in some places in the summer and that looks like spittle +is--guess what? + +Frog spittle, May says. So you think the frogs spit on the grass do you? +They must be tall frogs to reach up so high. + +With this little twig let us carefully brush away the white froth. + +Now see. + +Yes, there is something in the centre of it. + +It is the larva of a--bug! + +[Illustration] + +The female bug, and here is one of the little things, lays the egg on +the leaf or twigs, and when it hatches the young bug sucks out the sap +of the plant which finally appears as this white froth. + +The larva remains surrounded by the froth until its transformations are +complete. + +Just before the last moult it stops sucking out sap. The froth dries +about it in the form of a little room, and in this it undergoes its last +moult and comes out--an adult bug. + +The froth is supposed to be used as a protection, and it may be against +some enemies, but there are certain wasps that delight in invading the +frothy masses and hauling out the unwilling morsels within to feed to +their young. + +No, little Nell, the frogs have nothing whatever to do with this frothy +substance which was called frog spittle before people understood about +the little insect that made it. + +They really thought the frogs did it. + +The adult spittle insect is called a frog hopper, and it has the power +of leaping very well. + +[Illustration] + + + + +PRETTY LEAF HOPPERS + + +Just see this bush! Be careful not to shake it. + +It is covered with such pretty, bright-colored little insects. + +[Illustration] + +There, May ran against the bush and see--they are hopping wildly off in +every direction. + +Yes, little Nell, they do sound like rain drops pattering on the leaves. + +They are prettier than the spittle insects and more slender, but they +hop about in very much the same way. + +The larvae do not make froth, however. + +These are the leaf hoppers. + +What big heads they have! + +And how daintily their green forms are pencilled with red lines. + +There are a great many species of the leaf hoppers, and not all of them +are as pretty as these. + +[Illustration] + +Some of them are very small indeed, and some do great damage to the +grain crops and the fruits. + +They suck out the juices of the plants. + +If you sweep the insect net over bushes or through the grass in +midsummer, you will be pretty sure to draw in a good collection of leaf +hoppers. + +Most of us are only too well acquainted with the rose-leaf hopper that +swarms on rose bushes and kills the leaves. If we have not noticed the +insect itself, we have not failed to notice the little white skins that +it has cast off and left clinging to the leaves. + +Yes, these are the little skins it discards when it moults. + +John says we can kill them by washing the bushes with strong soap suds. + +[Illustration] + +Ned says it is better yet to spray them. + +It is better and also easier to spray them than to wash them. + +You know there are machines for spraying trees and other plants. They +consist of a tank to hold the liquid that is to be sprayed and a pump to +force it through a rubber pipe with a sprinkler at the end. + +Very often a mixture of soap and kerosene oil, known as "kerosene +emulsion," is used to spray with. + +Paris green and blue vitriol, both very poisonous, are often used on +grape vines before the grapes are formed, and very gaudy vines they are +for a little while after this bright poison has been sprayed upon them. + +Although insects are so very interesting, we have to protect ourselves +against many species in order to live. + +Yes, John, it is oftentimes merely a question which shall profit by the +crops we plant, the insects or ourselves. + +Sometimes the insects win, sometimes we win, but it is a closely +contested warfare all the time. + +We plough the land and take care of it, we plant the seeds and keep out +the weeds. Then, when we have a fine crop growing, along come certain +destructive insects, feeling very happy, no doubt, to have found such a +feast. + +Now the fight begins. They attack the crop, we attack them. We spray +them with poisons, burn up their eggs, do everything we know how to get +rid of them. + +Wise men have spent many years of close study finding out the habits of +the insects destructive to grains and fruits, in order to be able to +destroy them. + +Although many of the plant hoppers are such nuisances to us, there is +one family of hoppers that is seldom a nuisance. + + + + +THE COMICAL TREE HOPPERS + + +Do you know the tree hoppers,--absurd little jokers that they are? + +Oh, yes, they are hard and three cornered, like animated beechnuts, as +somebody has said. + +Yes, some of them have humps on their backs and some have horns. + +[Illustration] + +John says he once made a collection of tree hoppers and put them in a +box with a reading glass over the top, and showed them to his friends to +make them laugh. + +May says she saw them, and they reminded her of Brownies. + +Would it not be fun to have a tree hopper Brownie book! + +The tree hoppers jump about on the bushes and eat the juices of the +plants, but there are not usually enough of them to do damage. They +seldom come in swarms like some of the leaf hoppers, though sometimes +they do. + + + + +THE JUMPING PLANT LICE + + +The jumping plant lice are nearly related to the tree hoppers, but they +do not look at all like them. + +Under the magnifying glass they look like tiny cicadas. + +See, here is a picture of one enlarged. + +[Illustration] + +Their natural size is no larger than a plant louse. + +Have you not often seen them clustered close together on the young twigs +of pear trees--tiny, light-colored things that jumped in all directions +when you touched the twig? + +The name of the plant louse that infests pear trees is the pear-tree +psylla. It is very destructive to pear trees, sucking out the juices of +the young shoots. + +The pear trees can be saved by spraying them with kerosene emulsion as +soon as the young leaves have opened in the spring. + + + + +THE APHIDS + + +Now, let us go in search of the aphids, or aphides, as they are also +called. We shall not have to search far. + +[Illustration] + +In a very dry season we generally need not search at all. All we need do +is to examine the nearest weed to find plenty of aphides. + +Yes, they are the little plant lice that seem at times to cover every +growing thing. + +Sometimes they are green, sometimes brown, or gray, or reddish, in +color. + +They are tiny creatures, but what they lack in size they more than make +up in numbers. + +Go now, and find some aphides. + +Ah, here you all come, each bearing a leaf or a twig on which are +aphids. + +There was no trouble in finding them! + +They do not hop like the jumping plant lice when they are disturbed. +They remain where they are unless they are very much shaken up. + +See, most of them are without wings, though here are a few with +beautiful transparent wings. + +Antennae they have, long and threadlike. And see, the knowing little +eyes! + +They seem to be anchored to the leaf. + +Hold the leaf up to the light, and see if you can discover what they are +doing. + +Ah, see those mouth tubes firmly stuck into the leaf. There they stand +all day long and suck out the juice. + +[Illustration] + +Ned says he should think they would burst. + +But they do not; they grow. And they also get rid of a large part of the +superfluous sap in a curious way. + +They use what they need to grow on, and the rest escapes from the +insect's body in the form of "honey dew." It is a sweet liquid of which +ants and bees are very fond. + +What, John, you have heard that the aphids give out honey dew from two +little horns near the tip of the abdomen? + +Let us see if we can find these horns. Yes, we can see them plainly, and +_very_ plainly with a magnifying glass. + +But now listen; the honey dew does not come from the horns. On the end +of some of the horns, or tubes, we can see a drop of clear liquid. + +For a long time people believed this was honey dew, but instead, it is a +waxy substance which is not sweet. + +It has been very carefully studied by wise men who tell us it contains +no sugar and is probably used as a means of defence, as aphides have +been seen to smear the faces of insect enemies with this wax. + +There are a great many species of aphides, and not all of them have the +little tubes or horns on their backs. But probably many that have no +horns give forth honey dew. + +It is really a waste substance from the body of the aphid. + +Ants are so fond of the honey dew that certain species of aphides have +been called the _ants' cows_, because the ants take care of them for the +sake of the honey dew. + +Some ants protect the aphids from their enemies. They drive off those +insects that would devour the aphids, and when winter comes these ants +carry the aphids down into their warm nests under ground, and keep them +safe through the cold weather. + +The aphides cannot stand wet weather, but after a long spell of dry +weather they will be found in great abundance. + +[Illustration] + +Sometimes they eat so fast and so much that the honey dew falls like a +shower from the trees upon which they are. It covers the ground beneath +and the leaves of plants, and makes everything very sticky and +disagreeable to the touch. The dust settles on it, too and a growth +something like mould often turns it black--as we find to our discomfort. + +But when the honey dew is fresh the bees love it. They collect large +quantities of it and make it into honey. Squirrels like it to. + +It is great fun to watch the nimble squirrel folk sitting in the trees +and holding a leaf between their little hands while they lick off the +honey dew. + +Children sometimes suck the honey dew from the leaves in back country +places, where sugar is scarce and where candy is seldom to be had. + +Which side of the leaf does the aphid prefer? + +Yes, it is on the under side always. + +I wonder why. + +John says the aphides would be better protected in case of a shower. + +Ned says the skin is tenderer on the under side and easier to pierce. + +Mollie thinks they want to be in the shade out of the hot sunshine. + +I should not wonder if all of these reasons were right. + +My little aphid, how many wings have you when you have any? + +Yes, little Nell, they have four of the daintiest, prettiest little +wings you ever saw. + +[Illustration] + +True enough, most of them have no wings at all. + +[Illustration] + +John thinks those must be young ones. + +Sometimes they are, but not always. Many of the adult aphids have no +wings. + +The aphids are very curious insects, and when you are older I hope you +will remember to study them carefully. + +No, John, not all species of aphides make honey dew. + +Some form instead a white, powdery substance that is seen scattered over +the body. + +May says that must be the kind she has. + +Let us see. Yes, May's aphids produce the white powder instead of honey +dew. + +That is _their_ way of getting rid of the waste matter. + +May says she is glad to know that; she thought her aphids had something +the matter with them. They seemed to be falling to pieces. + +No, May, they are not falling to pieces; that powder can all be rubbed +off, and there are your aphids whole and sound beneath it. + +Do you know that some species of your funny little tree hoppers secrete +honey dew also, and even have ants to attend them? See if you can find +some of these this summer. + +Sometimes aphids live on the roots of plants as well as on the leaves. + +Yes, indeed, May, they are very destructive insects. We have to spray +our house plants to get rid of them, and often our garden flowers as +well, and they do a great deal of damage to fruits and vegetables, and +one of them, the phylloxera, has nearly destroyed the vineyards of +France. It lives on the leaves of some species of grapes and on the +roots of others. We have to be very careful about getting grape vines +from Europe to plant in this country on account of the phylloxera. + +[Illustration] + +What have you found now, John? Ah, yes, an alder branch, with a white, +cottony substance on it. You have been poking into it with a little +stick, and you think there are insects beneath it. + +What, May, you always thought that white stuff was a plant growth, like +mould? + +We can easily find out. Get out some of the little things inside if you +can, John. It is not easy to separate them from their cottony covering +without crushing them, but now we can see quite well with the magnifying +glass--and yes--you see they are little insects. + +We call them the woolly aphids. + +They also secrete honey dew. + +You say the ground below the alder bush was all sticky and black, John? + +That was the honey dew, blackened by a little plant something like +mould, that grows on it. + +We often see woolly plant lice in the summer-time on different plants, +and one species injures apple trees. It gets on the roots as well as on +the tender bark of young trees and kills them. + +Yes, indeed, Mollie, the aphids are bugs. They belong to the bug order, +which is a very large and important insect family, and contains some +members that are exceedingly troublesome to us. + + + + +SCALE BUGS + + +What, May, you are tired out? + +What have you been doing? + +Oh, yes, washing the scales off the leaves of your mother's window fern. + +[Illustration] + +It must indeed have been a task; what did you wash them off with? Why +did you use soap suds? + +Because your mother told you to; well, that is a good reason, but why do +you think she told you to use soap suds? + +You say you don't know, but you think very likely these scales are some +sort of bug, as everything nowadays seems to be bugs. + +Well, I don't know about everything being bugs, but those scales +certainly are. They are scale bugs. + +Did you stop to look at them under the magnifying glass? + +[Illustration] + +No, but you brought a piece of the fern for us to look at. + +It will be necessary to put it under the microscope. + +There, now look. + +Yes, that scale looks like a tiny mussel shell; but look carefully, and +you will see it has legs. + +Lift it up with the point of a pin, and under it you will find a mass of +eggs. Yes, Ned; it is like a quantity of eggs under a dish cover. + +The cover is the female scale bug, and she has laid all those eggs. + +Yes, the scales we see on so many plants are the scale bugs. + +They are not all alike in shape, or size, or color; here is a different +kind, you see. + +[Illustration] + +But they are all very prolific; that is to say, they produce a great +many young, and do it in a short time. + +Yes, John, the tiny, dark-colored scales that look like little oyster +shells on the skins of oranges are a form of scale bug, and a very +troublesome one, too, to the orange grower. + +But though most of these insects are troublesome, the family is redeemed +by a few members that are of great value to us. + +One of these is the scale bug that supplies shellac, and all that comes +from it to our markets. These curious bugs give forth a resinous +substance that envelops the eggs and glues them to the twigs whose +juices the bug sucks out. It is this resinous substance that is +collected by breaking off the twigs where the insects are. It is used +for varnishes, as you know, and for polishing wood and other substances. + +There are other scale bugs that secrete wax, and some of them produce it +so abundantly, and of such good quality, that it has become an article +of commerce. China wax, which is wax of a very fine quality, is secreted +by a Chinese scale bug, and the wax is used for making fine candles, as +well as for other purposes. + +In Mexico we have the cochineal insect, which is a scale bug that lives +on a cactus that grows in Mexico. + +Like many others of the scale bugs, the cochineal males have wings and +are not so scalelike as their helpless mates. + +But they are of no use to us. It is only the female cochineal we use. + +She is raised in great numbers in cactus gardens planted on purpose. + +Here is the picture of a cactus with cochineal insects upon it. + +[Illustration] + +These insects contain a very brilliant, red coloring matter that is used +by us in dyeing leather and wool, and in making paints. The insects are +gathered and dried, and thus sent to market. + +Although a few of them are useful to us, the scale bugs, on the whole, +are a serious pest; and they are found on nearly all kinds of plants all +over the world. + +You should think all the plants would soon be gone, so many insects eat +them? + +Well, they would, only other things eat the insects. + +Insects have a great many enemies, after all. + +Sometimes the weather is bad for them, the season is too hot or too +cold, too wet or too dry, and then they do not appear in large numbers. + +Sometimes one kind of insect eats another kind. + +Sometimes tiny plants, like moulds, grow on the insects and kill them; +and birds destroy a very large number. + +If the farmers only knew how much good the birds do them, they would +never allow one to be killed. Even the crows that pull up their corn are +worth many times the corn they eat in the insects they destroy. There is +scarcely a bird but what is of value to the farmer. + +The hawks that catch his chickens catch more mice and moles in his +fields, than chickens in his barn-yard. + +And as for the robins, the blue jays, and all the small birds, they do +more to save the growing plants, than all the soap suds and kerosene +emulsion that were ever made. + +No one should ever shoot a bird. The birds are our natural protectors +against the vast armies of insects, that, but for the birds, would soon +destroy us by eating up our food plants. + +What is that, May? You belong to an Audubon Society for the protection +of the birds? + +Yes, I know you do, and so do John and Ned and Mollie and little Nell. + +I wish every child in the United States belonged to the Audubon Society. +Then our birds would be safe. They would never be killed as they are now +for foolish women to wear on their hats. + +When the Audubon Society children grew up they would not wear dead +birds, of course, and their children would be taught better, so that +after a while the Audubon Society people would be the only ones left, +and so the birds would be safe. + +Let us get as many people to belong to the Audubon Society as we can. + +What is that, Amy? You have learned more interesting things about birds +in the Audubon Society than you ever knew in your life before? + +Yes, I am sure you have, and what could be lovelier to study about than +the birds. + +What is that you are saying, Ned? You love to go bird hunting? Ah, I see +your eyes twinkle, sir; I know how you go hunting. You hunt with your +mother's opera glass! That is the proper way to hunt birds. + +We can learn more from watching one bird with a glass than we could from +shooting a hundred. + +But you do shoot them, John? Yes, I know about that, too. I know what +kind of a shooting instrument you got for Christmas, sir, and I have +seen the birds you shot! + +Yes, nearly all of us have seen them, and how well he does it! + +What, Amy, you think John ought to be ashamed of himself to go about +shooting birds, and we ought to be ashamed of ourselves to talk so about +it? + +There, now, don't be vexed with Amy, children. She has known us but a +little while, and she has not seen John's birds, so I do not wonder she +feels indignant. + +What is that, May? You have one of John's birds right here in your +school-bag? Show it to Amy. + +Isn't it pretty! It is a very charming photograph of a catbird on its +nest. + +You see John shoots birds with a camera! His father gave him a beautiful +one for Christmas, and he has made good use of it. + +How long did it take you to get that bird, John? + +Just hear! He spent more than a week getting acquainted with the bird so +it would sit still on the nest while he took its picture. + +I am sure that was a week well spent. + +John says he feels better acquainted with the catbird than he would have +been if he had read fifty books about it. + +And I am sure he is right. The only way to enjoy a bird and to know it, +is to watch it alive. + +A camera is the very best gun in the world for catching birds. And it is +really much better fun to take their pictures than to shoot and kill +them. + +It seems to me we have strayed a long way from bugs. + +May says she thinks birds are much more interesting than bugs. + +That may be, but still we want to know about bugs, too. + +Do you think you will know a bug when you see it now? + +No, I do not believe you can be sure of that. But at least you know +something about a few bugs. + +Some day you will study more carefully how insects are formed, and then +you will understand better how we decide what order they belong to. + +We group together the insects that are most like each other. + +[Illustration] + + + + + ~NEUROPTERA~ + + ~TRICHOPTERA~ + + + + +THE HORNED CORYDALUS + + +No more bugs, if you please. + +We are to make the acquaintance of another order of insect folk this +time. + +[Illustration] + +I think we can find some worthy members of this new order if we go with +John to a brook he knows of. + +Here we are, and it certainly is a lovely brook, whether we find a +dobson in it or not. + +Yes, Nell, the dobson is the new insect we shall try to find. + +Now, be careful and not get your clothes too wet, but we have to turn +over the stones along the edge of the brook until we find what we are +after. + +Mollie wants to know how she is to know it if she finds it. + +Well, Mollie, whatever you find that is interesting you must show us. +Even though it is not what we are searching for, we shall enjoy seeing +it. + +Look at little Nell! She has tumbled into the brook. Her foot slipped, +and down she went. + +Don't cry, deary, you are not wet enough to do any harm. The warm sun +will soon dry you. + +No, indeed, you will not have to go home. + +[Illustration] + +Perhaps you will be the first one to find a dobson after all. + +Hurrah! hurrah! hear John shout! + +He must have found the first dobson. + +Yes, he has. + +What, May? It is a horrid monster, and you have a good mind to scream? + +Well, scream if you want to; that won't do any harm. + +It _isn't_ pretty! but we shall like to look at it. You see it is a +larva and a big one, dark gray in color and with a thick leathery skin. + +Mollie says it reminds her a little of the larva of the May fly; that +is, in shape. + +Let us look at a picture of the May-fly larva. + +You see it has a head, a thorax to which is attached the six legs and +the rudimentary wings, and an abdomen, all distinctly separated from +each other. + +[Illustration] + +The dobson has a head, but no thorax. + +The body behind the head is divided into segments that all look very +much alike, and there is a pair of legs attached to each of the first +three segments. + +The dobson eats other larvae that it chews up with its strong jaws. + +It lives almost three years in the larval state, so you see it has +plenty of time in which to grow. Of course it moults. It is usually to +be found under stones in swift, running water. Those two pairs of hooks +at the tip of its body are its anchors. + +It clasps them about a bit of stone or a stick that is firmly lodged, +and then it can bid defiance to the swirling stream. + +Ned wonders why it is always found hiding under stones. + +Listen to John, he says fishes are very fond of dobsons, and that is why +they hide away. + +Fishermen hunt the dobsons for bait; so you see they have a hard time in +spite of their large size and their strong jaws. + +When they have lived nearly three years in the water they crawl out on +the bank and hollow out a place under a stone. + +Here they lie, apparently dead, but they are not dead. + +They are undergoing a wonderful transformation. + +It takes about a month for this transformation, or _metamorphosis_, as +it is called, to be completed. + +All of our other insect friends have changed gradually from larval to +adult form. At each moult they became a little more like their parents, +and finally at the last moult, without any resting period, out sprang +the perfect insect. + +Not so the dobson. It goes into its hole in the bank a larva, almost +exactly like the larva that hatched from the egg, only, of course, it is +larger. There is no hint of wings. It has no separate thorax and +abdomen. Could we see under the bank where it has crept, to undergo its +great metamorphosis, we should find, not a larva, but a strange-looking, +motionless object. + +[Illustration] + +Here is the picture of one. See its little wing pads. And now it has a +thorax and an abdomen. + +It seems to have changed and been turned to some hard substance. + +In this state it is called the _pupa_, which means doll. Is it not a +cunning insect doll? But it is not really a doll. Although so still and +apparently lifeless, yet it lives. + +Some day it will burst its pupa shell and pull itself out--not a larva +now, not a pupa, but a strong-winged insect. + +In its adult form, it is known as the horned corydalus. + +There! I thought John was saving one for us. He had it in a box in his +pocket. Now see what a--a--what shall I say? A beauty? or a monster? +That is just as you feel about it. + +It certainly is an alarming-looking insect. + +This one is a male, as we can tell by the long, curved jaws that look +very dangerous; but in this instance the creature's appearance is worse +than its bite, and the real biter is the female whose jaws are smaller +but very useful in nipping tormentors or biting prey. + +Now here she is--a fit mate for her formidable-looking companion. + +[Illustration: MALE CORYDALUS.] + +[Illustration: FEMALE CORYDALUS.] + +John, you were fortunate in your hunting. + +In spite of its terrifying appearance, see what wonderful wings the +corydalus has. + +See! John has spread out the wings of the female. + +They are indeed beautiful. + +May cannot understand how those great wings came out of those little +wing pads. + +When the wings were first pulled out of the wing pads they were small, +but they rapidly expanded and became thin and broad and long as the air +touched them. + +You will understand that better after a while. + +The corydalus differs from all the other insects we have studied, in its +metamorphosis. + +It begins life far more unlike its parents than the other insects we +have been looking at, for they had the thorax and abdomen distinct from +the beginning. Instead of changing gradually and remaining active all +the time up to the final metamorphosis, our corydalus goes into the pupa +state, and in that motionless condition transforms to the perfect +insect. + +This is called a complete metamorphosis. + +When the change is gradual, without any pupa form, any stopping place as +it were, the change is said to be an incomplete metamorphosis. + +Yes, the metamorphosis of the grasshoppers is incomplete, and of the +katydids and the crickets and all the other insects we have studied +until we came to the dobson. + +Another name for the larva of insects that undergo an incomplete +metamorphosis is _nymph_. Some books speak of the nymph of the +grasshopper, and never of the larva of the grasshopper. Such books use +the word _larva_ only in speaking of the young of insects that undergo a +complete metamorphosis. + +Yes, Ned, they would speak of the nymph of the dragon fly, and the nymph +of the May fly and the nymph of the cricket and the katydid, but they +would speak of the larva of the corydalus. + +Egg, nymph, adult,--those are the stages of insects that have an +incomplete metamorphosis. + +Egg, larva, pupa, adult,--those are the stages of insects that have a +complete metamorphosis. + +No, it is not wrong to say larva instead of nymph. I only want you to +know how the word nymph is used, so that when you see it in reading +about insects you will know what it means. + +The corydalus lays its eggs near the water, and it lays a great +many--sometimes nearly three thousand. Think of that! The young larvae +crawl into the water as soon as they are hatched, and those that escape +the hungry fishes grow into these large larvae and finally metamorphose +into the big-horned corydalus. + +It is such a remarkably fierce-looking creature that it has received +many names that are neither complimentary nor beautiful, such as +conniption bug, alligator, and dragon, and numerous others equally +expressive. + +Now, we must go home. Let us put the dobson back into the brook. + +It does no harm, and we will not kill it. + +Yes, Ned, there are smaller insects like the corydalus that are near +relatives to it, and I am sure you have often seen them. + + + + +FAIRY LACEWING + + +Here is our little Lacewing. + +[Illustration] + +May says it is a darling, like a woodland fairy clad all in green. + +And, oh, its eyes! Are they not beautiful? They shine like gold. + +Do its wings not remind you a little of the wings of the corydalus? + +May says no, indeed; that has ugly brown wings. + +But look again, May. See how these wings are veined, and do you not +remember how you admired the silvery wings of the corydalus when we +spread them out? + +Yes, it belongs to the same order as the corydalus. + +The name of the insect order to which they both belong is Neuroptera, +from _neuron_, a nerve, and _pteron_--who remembers what _pteron_ means? + +Yes, a wing. Nerve-winged. + +What does that mean? + +It means that the wings are crossed by many nerves or veins. Yes, that +is what gives them their lacelike appearance. + +Pretty golden eye, why do we not oftener see you on the trees and +bushes? It is only by accident we found you to-day, down in the grass. + +The truth is, this pretty fairy hides by day and comes out at night to +lay its eggs. Like the May fly, the adult lacewing does not eat. It is a +helpless little beauty, though it has one powerful means of defence, as +you will discover if you touch it. + +Ah, yes; you have already detected it! It gives forth such an offensive +odor that nothing, one should think, could have the hardihood to eat it. + +May says she supposes the larva of the lacewing is a little monster like +that of the corydalus. + +But you will not expect to find it as large as a dobson. + +I think if we hunt about a little, we can find one. + +Here is one on the leaf. See what a little fellow! And how fast it runs! + +[Illustration] + +We shall have to take it captive, in order to get a chance to see it. + +It is a funny little larva, with jaws that are _tre-men-dous_ for one of +its size. + +Why do you suppose it has such jaws? + +May says, for the usual reason, to eat up other larvae. + +Yes; but wait till I tell you another name for this larva. + +It is also called the aphis lion. + +Aphis, you know, is the same as aphid, or plant louse. In other words it +is the plant-louse lion. + +Ah, yes; you are quite willing it should devour the aphids. + +And it does. It is very fond of them, though it will also devour any +unlucky insect it is strong enough to overcome. + +It has a terrible appetite, this child of the pretty lacewing. + +It would even eat its brothers and sisters before they hatched out of +the egg if it could get at them. + +The pretty lacewing knows what an appetite her ever hungry larvae will +have, and so she protects them against each other. + +Clever little mother! she lays the eggs in such a way that the larvae +that hatch out first cannot devour the rest of the eggs. + +How do you think she manages it? + +Here are some of her eggs on this leaf. + +Yes, John; each one is on top of a slender stalk. + +The stalk is of stiff silk. + +There they are, like a little forest, with an egg for each tree top. + +[Illustration] + +When an egg hatches the young aphis lion drops down to the leaf and runs +about like a ravening lion seeking some living thing to devour. + +Above his head, quite unsuspected by him, are the eggs out of which his +brothers and sisters have not yet hatched. + +What a feast he could have if he knew about it! + +And what a sad little cannibal he would be! + +The larva of the aphis lion has no distinct thorax. Its legs are +attached to the upper segments of the body, and its metamorphosis is +like that of the corydalus. + +When about to become a pupa, it makes for itself a little covering of +white silk. Here it lies quite motionless and undergoes the final +transformation. + +Yes, its metamorphosis is complete. + +It bites an opening through its silken walls, and out steps--not the +hungry, little, all-devouring aphis lion, but this elegant lady with her +pale-green lacelike wings and her large, golden eyes. + +You see the aphis lion is our very good friend. + +It helps us get rid of the aphids, and we should never kill a lacewing +or a child of the lacewing. + + + + +THE ANT LION + + +John has found something he wants us all to see. + +We will go with him. + +Now we will sit down on this sand bank and look at what he has to show +us. See! those smooth little funnels in the sand. + +[Illustration] + +Those are what we have come out to see. + +Let us watch them a while. + +Mollie says an ant is walking close to the rim of the funnel she is +watching. Now the ant slips over the edge and slides down the smooth +sides of the funnel. + +And see! from the bottom of the funnel leap out two curved jaws +and--good-by, ant! + +The ant has been dragged down out of sight through a hole in the bottom +of the funnel. + +What a strange proceeding! + +Who can be living down there at the bottom of the funnel? + +We are sorry to disturb such a pretty piece of work, but we shall have +to dig out one of the funnels. We shall have to be quick, too. + +There, there, under the trowel! No, it is gone. There it is again. Dig +fast, Ned. That is right. He has put it with a trowelful of sand into +our box. + +We will gently shake out the sand until we uncover it. + +Mabel says it is just what she thought it was--a larva. + +Yes, it is a larva. + +[Illustration] + +You see it looks a little like the lacewing larva, and it, too, belongs +to the Neuroptera. + +What jaws! + +How do you suppose it makes its tunnel? + +If we give it plenty of sand, and keep very quiet, perhaps it will go to +work. + +There! it is throwing the sand about. + +May says it is using its own head as a trowel. Yes, it is shovelling the +sand away with its head. + +Why is Ned laughing? Oh, see the ant lion he is watching! An ant slid +part way down its funnel and tried to climb out again, and the ant lion +down below is flinging sand at it. + +There! it has succeeded in making the poor ant slip; down it goes, and +now the ant lion has seized it and dragged it down under the ground. + +It is easy to find these pit-falls of the ant lion in sand banks in the +summer-time. + +Yes, May, the ant lions eat many ants, and they moult and grow, and, +finally, they, too, make a little cocoon about themselves. + +Yes, the little silken room they weave we call a cocoon, but the ant +lions make theirs of silk and sand. + +[Illustration] + +Within the cocoon they become motionless pupae, and finally appear as +silver-winged little creatures that bear no resemblance to the +large-jawed, ever hungry, ant lion. + +May says she thinks the Neuroptera differ from all the other orders in +the way the larvae transform. + +That is true, May, they do. + +In no other order that we have studied do the insects go into the pupal +state to undergo the final transformation. + +Who remembers what the young of insects that undergo an incomplete +metamorphosis are sometimes called? + +Dear me, you all remember! + +Yes, the young are sometimes called nymphs. + +The nymphs do not change into pupae. + +The young grasshoppers do not change into motionless pupae, they just +keep on growing until they are perfect adults. + +Young grasshoppers are sometimes called nymphs instead of larvae. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE LITTLE CADDICE FLIES + + +Here we are in the woods again. + +How sweet it smells! + +Let us sit down by this brook and look into it. + +It is such a clear little stream, with fine sand and little pebbles at +the bottom. + +What has Nell found that pleases her so? + +She says she sees some little bars of sand moving about. + +Ned says they are not sand bars but tubes of sand, containing a little +live thing. + +The truth is, this sand bag is a house, and its occupant is a larva. + +[Illustration] + +See the black head come popping out, and the tiny fore legs. + +The larva does not come entirely out, you see, but pulls its house along +with it, and when it is frightened it pops back into its little stone +case. + +Mollie says it reminds her of a hermit crab. + +A hermit crab, you know, lives on the seashore and takes possession of +an empty snail shell for a house. + +It comes partly out dragging its house with it, but if you disturb it, +it draws back, sometimes quite out of sight. + +[Illustration] + +This little larva lives in a house, too, but it is a house of its own +making. + +It is the larva of the caddice fly, or case fly. + +Let us put one of these little sand cases in the saucer here. + +Please fill the saucer about half full of water, John. Thank you. + +Now, Mollie, I see you have picked up a fine big caddice case. + +Put it in the saucer, and let us watch the larva crawl about. + +[Illustration] + +It never comes entirely out of the case, you see. It holds on to it with +the hinder part of its body. + +Its little black head is hard, but its body is soft, and that is why it +does not like to expose itself to hungry larvae that might be living in +the water. + +May says she wants to see the whole larva. + +Suppose we carefully break away the little sand case. + +No, indeed, little Nell, we are not going to hurt the larva; we are only +going to open its house. + +[Illustration] + +There, the larva is outside now, and you can see what a tender, pale +little thing it is. + +It does not like to have its soft body exposed. + +See! it is already gathering little bits of sand together. + +It seems to be sticking them fast to its body. + +It is really binding them together by a saliva-like substance from its +mouth. + +It draws out little glistening threads that harden into silk as soon as +they touch the water. + +Queer saliva you think. + +But the caddice larva does not find it queer. It is used to saliva that +hardens into silk. + +Yes, that is the way the larva of the aphis lion and of the ant lion +made their cocoons. They spun out silk in this manner. + +The caddice larva makes its house of silk and sand and also lines it +with a beautiful covering of fine silk. + +Yes, May, it papers its walls with silk. + +You see it did not hurt the caddice larva to take away its house; it +immediately went to work to build another. + +Why not pull it out, instead of breaking its house to pieces? + +Because if it had been pulled hard enough to come out, it might have +been torn to pieces, it is such a tender little thing, and it holds fast +so tightly. + +So the best way to remove it safely is to break its case bit by bit from +around it. + +It does no harm to break its case if one is careful. It will soon build +another. + +Yes, this larva has no distinct thorax. It is like the larvae of the +dobson, the aphis lion, and the ant lion in that respect. + +[Illustration] + +See! John has found one whose tube is made of quite large stones as +compared with this tube of fine sand that we have broken open. + +Some caddice larvae build houses of wood instead of stone. They stick +little twigs together, and some use little pieces of leaves. + +Others again use tiny snail shells which, as you can imagine, make very +pretty cases. + +[Illustration] + +Our little caddice has made a neat little house of fine sand grains very +nicely put together. + +Some others make much rougher houses. + +You will be apt to find the caddice larvae in any brook and in some +ponds, and I hope you will always look for them. + +Notice the tracery in the soft mud of the brook. + +Those lines that look as though some one had been ornamenting the bottom +of the brook are made by our caddice larvae. + +[Illustration] + +They drag their cases along and thus make these lines. + +Sometimes such lines are made by the little fresh-water snails; but you +can always find the decorator by following along the lines he makes. + +What, May? How is the delicate larva able to cling to the case tightly +enough to pull it along? If you look at it very carefully, you will find +a pair of tiny hooks at the tail end by which it can hold on to the silk +lining; and some caddice larvae have hard points on their backs which +help them to hold fast. + +The caddice larvae are carnivorous; that is, they eat animal food. + +Yes, May, their food is usually the larvae of other insects, but you will +be glad to know that some of them eat plants too. + +They eat the larvae of the May flies when they can find them and no doubt +they build these strong cases about themselves to prevent the May fly +larvae from returning the compliment. + +Frank has found some empty cases, yes, and some that are closed at both +ends. + +Now, let us look at this one closed at both ends. What do you suppose is +in it? + +We will open just one of these closed cases. + +There! It is a pupa! Yes, Nell, a very pretty doll is this. + +[Illustration] + +It has a thorax, you see, and an abdomen. Its long antennae lie close to +its body as do its little wing pads. + +Yes, the caddice larva grows and moults in the usual way. It keeps +adding to its house as it grows longer. Finally, it closes the end of +its little tube and lies quite still. + +You know what happens next. Its wormlike form divides into thorax and +abdomen. Legs and wings appear, attached to the thorax. In short, it is +no longer a wormlike creature. + +Finally, it comes forth from its case. It never goes into it again. + +[Illustration] + +It does not need to, for now it is a dainty little nun, with a long, +tan-colored cloak. Its cloak, of course, is its wings folded down about +its body. Like the fairy May flies it has no mouth and eats nothing in +the adult form. + +It looks like a dainty brown moth as it flutters about the bushes and +goes flying up and down the brook. + +You will always find these little brown-cloaked figures flitting about +the brooks, where the caddice larvae live. + +You see the caddice undergoes a complete metamorphosis. + +No, it does not belong to the Neuroptera. + +Examine its wings very carefully. Look at them through the magnifying +glass, and you will see they are clothed with hairs. + +So these are the hair wings. + +The name of the order to which they belong is Trichoptera, from +_pteron_, a wing, and _thrix_, a hair. + +Sometime you must take a caddice larva from its house and put it in a +saucer of water with fine bits of mica, which you know is another name +for the isinglass that makes the little windows in our stoves. + +If you are fortunate, your caddice will build for itself a little glass +house, through whose walls you can look and see what is going on inside. + +[Illustration] + + + + ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcribers note: In this text letters with a macron or breve are | +|represented thus: | +| | +| | +|"a" with a macron [=a] "a" with a breve [)a] | +|"e" with a macron [=e] "e" with a breve [)e] | +| | +|"i" with a macron [=i] "i" with a breve [)i] | +|"o" with a macron [=o] "o" with a breve [)o] | ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +GLOSSARY + + +~Abdomen~ (ab-d[=o]'-men). The lower part of an animal's body. The part +behind the thorax in insects. + +~Adult~ ([)a]-dult'). (L. adultus = grown up.) Grown to full size and +strength. + +~Anchor~ (ang'-kor). (Gr. = a hook.) Anchors are used to fasten ships by +a line to the bottom of the sea. Applied to anything that holds a +movable body fast in one place. + +~Antenna~ pl. ~Antennae~ (an-ten'-nee). The feeler in front of the +insect's head with which it hears and smells as well as feels. + +~Aphis~ ([=a]'-fis) pl. ~Aphides~ (af'-i-d[=e]z). + +~Aphid~ (af'-id) The plant louse, of which there are a great +many kinds. + +~Apparatus~ (ap-a-r[=a]'-tus). Tools or machinery used in working or in +making things. + +~Aquarium~ (a-kw[=a]'-ri-um). (L. aquarium = watering-place for cattle.) +A vessel of water for keeping water plants or water animals. + +~Attract~ (at-trakt'). (L. attractus = draw to.) To draw toward. + +~Audubon~ (aw'-do-bon), John James. A very famous student of birds and +their ways. In his great book, "The Birds of America," which was +published in 1827, there are many large colored drawings made by +himself. + +~Beech-nuts~ Small, three-cornered nuts that grow on beech trees, and +that are very sweet and good. + +~Breeding-place~ The place where young animals are born. + +~Brood~ A family of young animals. + +~Caddice~, or ~Caddis fly~ (kad'-is fl[=i]). Sometimes called "case +fly," from the case or shell which the larva makes about itself; +"caddice" is another way of saying "case." + +~Camera~ (kam'-e-ra). An instrument for taking photographs. + +~Cannibal~ (kan'-[)i]-bal). A human being who eats human flesh. Any +animal that eats others of its own kind. + +~Cargo~ (kar'-go). The goods or merchandise or whatever is carried in a +ship. + +~Carnivorous~ (kar-niv'-[=o]-rus). (L. carnivorus = flesh-eating.) +Applied to animals that feed on flesh, and plants that feed on insects. + +~Cast~ The cast-off skin of an insect that keeps the form of the +insect's body. + +~Characteristic~ (kar-ak-te-ris'-tik). Showing the peculiar qualities of +a person or thing. + +~Chitinous~(k[=i]'-tin-us). Hard, horny, and shell-like. + +~Cicada~ (si-k[=a]'-dae). (L. cicada = tree cricket.) A popular name for +insects, like the grasshopper, locust, and cricket, which make a +creaking or chirping noise. + +~Cochineal~ (koch'-i-n[=e]l or koch-i-n[=e]l'). A crimson dyestuff made +of the dried bodies of certain small insects. The insect is also called +cochineal. + +~Cocoon~ (ko-koon'). (L. concha = a shell.) The silky envelope which the +larvae of many insects spin to cover themselves. + +~Compact~ (kom-pakt'). (L. compactus = joined together.) Closely and +firmly united. + +~Compound~ (kom'-pound). Made up of two or more parts. + +~Coxa~ (kok'-sa). (L. coxa = the hip.) The first segment of an insect's +_leg_, sometimes called the hip. + +~Crevices~ (krev'-is-es). (L. crepare = to break, burst, crack.) Narrow +openings or cracks. + +~Descendant~ (d[=e]-sen'-dant). (L. descendere = to descend.) People or +animals who have come from earlier people or animals. + +~Ear drum~ ([=e]r' drum). A membrane stretched across inside the ear. + +~Ejected~ ([=e]-jekt'-ed). (L. ejicere = to throw out.) Thrown out, +driven away. + +~Emaciated~ ([=e]-m[=a]'-shi-[=a]t-ed). (L. emaciare = to make lean.) +Very thin and wasted. + +~Emerge~ (e-merj'). (L. emergere = to rise out.) To appear, to come into +sight. + +~Ephemeridae~ (ef-[=e]-mer'-i-d[=e]). (Gr. word = "lasting but a day.") +The name of the May fly order. + +~Facets~ (fas'-ets). Little faces; small surfaces. + +~Femur~ (f[=e]'-mer). (L. femur = a thigh.) The long bone of the upper +leg above the knee. The third segment in the insect's leg. + +~Formidable~ (for'-mi-da-bl). (L. formidabilis = causing fear.) Hard to +deal with; difficult to overcome. + +~Fry~ (fr[=i]). The young of fishes; used for any small animals. + +~Funnel~ (fun'-el). The shape of a hollow cone. + +~Gauzy~ (gaw'-zi). Very fine, thin, and transparent. + +~Ghosts~ (g[=o]sts). The spirits or shadows of the dead. + +~Gills~ The breathing organs of any animal that lives in the water. + +~Gorge~ (gorj). To feed greedily; to stuff one's self. + +~Gossamer~ (gos'-a-mer). A fine filmy substance, like the cobweb of +spiders. + +~Grub~ The larva of an insect. + +~Hearth~ (h[)a]rth). The part of the floor of a room where the fire is +built. + +~Hemiptera~ (h[=e]-mip'-te-ra). (Gr. = half-wing.) The name of an insect +order including many kinds, all known as bugs. + +~Incomplete~ (in-kom-pl[=e]t'). Not fully finished or developed. + +~Injurious~ (in-jew'-ri-us). (L. injuriasus = acting unjustly or +wrongly.) Something wrong or harmful. + +~Inquisitive~ (in-kwiz'-i-tiv). Curious and prying. + +~Insatiable~ (in-s[=a]'-shi-a-bl). (L. insatiabilis = that cannot be +satisfied.) Not easily satisfied; very greedy. + +~Isinglass~ ([=i]'-zing-glas). Thin, transparent sheets of mica. + +~Joint~ The place where two things or parts of one thing are joined or +united. + +~Keel~ (k[=e]l). The lowest part of the bottom of a ship. + +~Kettle drum~ (ket'-l drum). A musical instrument made of a hollow brass +hemisphere over which is stretched parchment. This is sounded by blows +from a mallet or stick. + +~Larva~ (lar'-va); pl. ~Larvae~ (lar'-v[=e]). The young insect. + +~Lock~ To fasten in place. + +~Locust~ (l[=o]'-kust). A shorthorned grasshopper. + +~Mantis~ (man'-tis); pl. ~Mantes~ (man'-t[=e]z). (Gr. = prophet.) An +orthopterous insect that holds its arms as if in prayer. + +~Membrane~ (mem'-br[=a]n). (L. membrana = thin skin.) A thin, soft +tissue that connects two parts, or lines a body. + +~Mercaptan~ (mer-kap'-tan). (L. mercaptans = taking mercury.) A +vile-smelling liquid that gets its name because of its strong action on +mercury. It seizes upon mercury, so to speak. + +~Metallic~ (me-tal'-ik). Made up of metals, or like metals. + +~Metamorphosis~ (met-a-mor'-f[=o]-sis). (L. metamorphosis = change, +transformation.) A change of form; a development, as the change of the +caterpillar into the chrysalis. + +~Mica~ (m[=i]'-ka). A transparent mineral that can be separated into +thin sheets or layers. + +~Microscope~ (m[=i]'-kr[=o]-sk[=o]p). An instrument that magnifies, or +makes objects look larger when placed beneath it. + +~Moult~ (m[=o]lt). (L. mutare = to change.) To shed or cast off the +feathers, hair, or skin. + +~Muscle~ (mus'-l). Bundles of fibres that have the power of growing +longer or shorter. The body is moved by means of the muscles. + +~Nary~ (ner'-i). "Ne'er a," a contraction of "never a." + +~Nerve~ (nerv). (L. nervus = a fibre _or_ tendon.) The nerves are fibres +or threads that carry impressions to the brain. Nerved = having fibres, +as in the wings of insects. + +~Neuroptera~ (n[=u]-r[)o]p'-te-ra). (Gr. = nerve-wing.) The name of an +insect order. + +~Nymph~ (nimf). (L. nympha = a bride, a young girl.) The young of +insects that undergo an incomplete metamorphosis. + +~Ocelli~ (o-sel'-le), pl. of Ocellus. (L. = a little eye.) The tiny, +simple eyes of insects. + +~Odonata~ ([=o]-d[=o]-na'-ta). The name of an insect order to which +belong the dragon flies. + +~Odors~ Pleasant or unpleasant smells. + +~Opera-glass~ (op'-e-ra-glas). Magnifying glasses used at the theatre or +opera to make things seem nearer. + +~Organism~ (or'-gan-izm). A member of the animal or vegetable kingdom. + +~Orthoptera~ (or-thop'-t[=e]-ra). (Gr. = straight-wing.) An insect order +to which belong the grasshoppers. + +~Ovipositor~ ([=o]-v[)i]-poz'-[)i]-tor). (L. ovum = egg, _and_ ponere = +to place.) The end of the abdomen of some insects, with which they are +able to put their eggs in a good place to be hatched. + +~Oxygen~ (ok'-si-jen). A part of the air that is necessary to all animal +and vegetable life. + +~Parasites~ (par'-a-s[=i]tz). Animals or plants that live on others. + +~Phylloxera~ (fil-ok-s[=e]'-ra). (Gr. = leaf _and_ dry.) An insect very +destructive to grape vines. + +~Plaited~ (pl[=a]t'-ed). Folded length-wise like the plaits of a closed +fan. + +~Plecoptera~ (pl[=e]-k[)o]p'-t[=e]-ra). (Gr. = twist _and_ wing.) An +insect to which belong the stone flies. + +~Pollute~(p[=o]-l[=u]t'). (L. polluere = to make unclean, to soil.) To +make foul or unclean. + +~Pores~ (porz). (L. porus = a way, a passage.) Small openings in the +skin to help in breathing. + +~Prey~ (pr[=a]). (L. praeda = property taken in war.) An animal in the +chase; game. + +Prolific (pr[=o]-lif'-ik). Fruitful; producing young in abundance. + +~Propel~ (pr[=o]-pel'). (L. propellere = to drive, or push forward.) To +urge onward by force. + +Prophet (prof'-et). One who tells of the future. + +~Pulvillus~ (pul-vil'-us); pl. ~Pulvilli.~ (L. = a little cushion.) A +little pad or cushion on an insect's foot. + +~Ravenous~ (rav'-n-us). Greedy, furiously hungry. + +~Repel~ (re-pel'). (L. repellere = to drive back.) To drive back, to +check. + +~Resinous~ (rez'-i-nus). Like resin, which is made from pine pitch. + +~Rudimentary~ (rew-di-men'-ta-ri). (L. rudimentum = a first attempt.) +Imperfectly developed or in an early stage of development. + +~Saliva~ (sa-l[=i]'-va). Spittle. The liquid formed in the mouth, which +mixes with food, and helps it to digest. + +~Segment~ (seg'-ment). (L. secare = to cut.) A part cut off, a section. + +~Seize~ (s[=e]z). To grasp, to clutch. + +~Sensitive~ (sen'-si-tiv). Quick to feel. The nerve of the eye is +sensitive to light, quick to feel light. + +~Shellac~ (she-lak' or shel-ak'). It is made from a coloring matter in +the bodies of certain insects. A polish which is used with varnish. + +~Silk~ (s[=i]lk). A fine, soft, strong thread made by the larvae of +certain insects. + +~Skeleton~ (skel'-e-ton). (Gr. = ~dried~ up.) The dry bones of the body +taken together. + +~Socket~ (sok'-et). Any hollow thing or place which receives or holds +something else. + +~Soothsayer~ (soeth'-s[=a]-er). One who pretends to know what the future +holds for us. + +~Source~ (s[=o]rs). The place where anything begins. + +~Species~ (sp[=e]'-shez). A group of closely related animals or plants. + +~Spine~ (sp[=i]n). (L. spina = a thorn). Anything sharp and slender like +a thorn. + +~Spiracle~ (spir'-or sp[=i]r-a-kl). (L. spiraculum = a breathing hole). +An air-hole. + +~Survivals~ (ser-v[=i]'-valz). (L. supervivo = to live over.) Those +outliving the larger number. + +~Swammerdam, Johannes~. A Dutch entomologist, born in Amsterdam in 1637. +He published several books on the natural history of insects. + +~Syringe~ (sir'-inj). (Gr. = a pipe _or_ reed.) A little instrument for +drawing in water, and forcing it out again. + +Tarsus (tar'-sus); pl. ~Tarsi.~ (Gr. = the sole of the foot.) The little +segments that make up the insect's foot. Also the little bones of the +instep. + +~Telescope~ (tel'-e-sk[=o]p). (Gr. = to view afar off.) An instrument by +which distant objects are made to appear nearer and larger. + +~Thorax~ (th[=o]'-rax). (Gr. = armor for the breast.) That part of the +body of animals between the head and the abdomen. + +~Thysanura~ (this-a-n[=u]'-ra). (Gr. = tassel and tail.) An insect order +to which belong the scale fishes. + +~Tibia~ (tib'-i-a). (L. tibia = a slender pipe, a musical instrument.) A +long, slender bone in the leg, below the knee. The fourth segment in an +insect's leg, generally long and slender. + +~Transformation~ (trans-for-ma'-shon). (L. transformare = to change the +shape of.) A change in form or nature. + +~Transparent~ (trans-par'-ent). (L. trans-parere = to appear through.) +Easily seen through. + +~Transportation~ (trans-por-ta'-shon). (L. trans-portare = to carry +over.) Carrying from one place to another. + +~Tremendous~ (tre-men'-dus). (L. tremendus = fearful, _from_ tremere, to +tremble.) Very wonderful, astounding. + +~Trichoptera~ (tr[=i]-kop'-te-ra). (Gr. = hairy-wing.) An insect order +to which belong the caddis flies. + +~Trochanter~ (tro-kan'-ter). (Gr. = the ball on which the hip bone turns +in its socket.) The second segment of an insect's leg. + +~Unlock~ (un-lok'). To unfasten something that has been closed. + +~Unsubstantial~ (un-sub-stan'-shal). Not real or solid, without +substance. + +~Vacated~ (v[=a]'-kat-ed). (L. vacare = to be empty or vacant.) Emptied; +possession given up. + +~Vegetation~ (vej-e-t[=a]'-shon). (L. vegetare = to quicken.) Living +plants. + +~Veined~ (v[=a]nd). (L. vena = a vein.) Marked as with veins, streaked. + +~Vibrate~(v[=i]'-br[=a]t). (L. vibratus = set in motion.) To swing; move +to and fro. + +~Vibration~ (v[=i]-br[=a]'-shon). Motions back and forth. Vibrations may +be too small for us to see. + +Victimized (vik'-tim-[=i]zd). Made a victim of, deceived, badly treated. + +~Voracious~ (v[=o]-r[=a]'-shus). (L. vorax = devouring greedily.) Eating +food in large quantities. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Insect Folk, by Margaret Warner Morley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INSECT FOLK *** + +***** This file should be named 18790.txt or 18790.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/7/9/18790/ + +Produced by Joseph R. 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