84 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



dry and strong. The female moth lays her eggs on some leaf 

 where the young caterpillars can feed when they hatch, and 

 soon dies. 



When one starts out on a collecting trip he should always 

 carry a net, poison jar, a little box in w^hich to put larvae and 

 other things he does not wish killed. If he is after dragon flies 

 he should go to some bog or swamp where they breed, and 

 there they can be found in great abundance in the different 

 stages of development. The blossoms of golden rod and 

 meadow sweet are always sure to have some beetle or fly on 

 them. The flowers and insects are closely connected. The 

 flowers provide the honey-loving insects with honey and while 

 they are securing this sweet they fertilize the flower by carry- 

 ing the pollen from blossom to blossom. Every flower hangs 

 out a little sign which reads to the beetle or fly, "Honey for 

 sale." In some blossoms like the mayflower it is the sweet 

 perfume we all enjoy so much ; in the carrion flower it is the 

 offensive odor of decayed meat; but in both the sign reads the 

 same to the different individuals it desires to attract. When 

 the insect goes into the flower for the nectar it knows is there, 

 it brushes carelessly against the little pollen boxes or stigmas 

 and shakes the* little yellow dust onto its body. It afterward 

 brushes against the pistils and leaves small particles of dust on 

 them. These go down into the lower part of the pistil, or 

 ovary, fuse with the little ovules and thus the little seeds are 

 made and immediately begin to grow, and in this way the insect 

 pays the flower for the honey it has taken away. As soon as the 

 flower is fertilized it takes in the sign and the parts of the 

 blossom fall off and there is nothing left but the seed-pod or 

 fruit. 



One should study the lives of the insects as they are in their 

 own little homes. Upon close examination one finds triat the 

 beetles, bugs, flies, wasps, etc., have six legs, while the spiders, 

 harvest-men, etc., have eight. The bodies of many of the 

 insects are made up of three parts, head, thorax and abdomen, 

 the wings being fastened to the thorax. In some the head and 

 thorax are so closely connected we say these insects are made 

 up of two parts, cephalo-thorax and abdomen. Most insects 

 have two pairs of wings ; in the bugs and beetles the outside 

 pair are hard-shelled and protect the delicate under wings, manv 



