40 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



be dead when you catch them, or at your approach 

 conceal themselves behind a leaf, or fall to the ground 

 as if dead. Some have even memory, and know per- 

 fectly well the one who takes care of them, as, for 

 instance, the Bees. The nests and dwellings of many 

 Insects often surpass those of birds in the skill dis- 

 played in their construction, &c, as the vespiaries, or 

 artificial dwellings of Wasps, or the tents of the Tent- 

 caterpillar, or the variously constructed cocoons of 

 Butterflies. But we cannot enlarge more upon these 

 qualities, as they will be mentioned in the descriptions 

 of the different Insects. 



According to the improved, ingenious arrangement 

 of Linnaeus, Insects are divided into the following eight 

 orders, viz. : 



I. Coleoptera. Beetles or Chafers. All Insects with horny bodies, 

 six legs, and four wings, of which the upper ones 

 are horny, and the lower ones parchment-like, as 

 the Stag-beetle, May-beetle, &c. 

 II. Hemiptera. Bugs, all Insects with four parchment-like wings, 

 six legs, and who obtain their nourishment by 

 sucking with a moveable proboscis, as, the Cicadas, 

 Plant-lice, Bed-bugs, &c. 

 III. Orthoptera. Olivier Insects with four parchment like wings, of 

 which the upper ones overlap on the back, and the 

 two under ones are thin and folded together like a 

 fan. They differ from those of the preceding order 

 in that they have strong jaws instead of a moveable 

 proboscis, as, c. g., the Grasshopper, Cricket, and 

 many others. 



