INSECT ORDERS 259 



Order — Siphonaptera 



These are the fleas. As the order name indicates they are wingless 

 forms that have sucking mouth parts. The metamorphosis is complete ; 

 they have little worm-like larvae than can exist on such apparently un- 

 palatable substances as the dust that tends to accumulate under a rug. 

 There are cat fleas, rat fleas, and human fleas, but none of them are par- 

 ticular about their host and readily change from rat to man and so on. 

 Their bodies are flattened so that they can easily work themselves 

 through the hairs of their host. They have a powerful sense of smell 

 and a powerful pair of jumping legs so that they can smell their victim 

 coming and give a tremendous leap in that direction. A person can get 

 a nice collection of fleas by tying sticky fly paper around his legs and 

 walking through a flea infested barn. 



The "sticktight" fleas are great pests on poultry and sometimes get 

 on them in sufficient numbers to cause their death. Unlike the majority 

 of fleas that like to change hosts, this one usually stays put once it finds 

 a satisfactory host. 



The fleas are considerably more than just pests, however, because 

 some of them spread serious diseases such as bubonic plague and typhus 

 fever. 



Order — Hymenoptera 



This order name means membrane wing and members of this group 

 have two pairs of membranous wings. The front pair are noticeablv 

 larger than the hind pair, but all four are used in flying. The meta- 

 morphosis is complete and mouth parts are for biting, but may be modi- 

 fied for sucking in some, such as the bees. 



1. Bees. These are brightly colored insects with their bodies covered 

 by branched hairs, in comparison with the wasps which have simple 

 hairs. The honeybee was discussed thoroughly in Chapter 16. There 

 are several hundred other species of bees in North America. The bum- 

 blebee is one which renders important service in cross-pollinating plants. 

 The important forage crop, red clover, is chiefly dependent upon bum- 

 blebees for pollination, because the tubes of the flowers are nearly twice 

 as long as the tongue of the honeybee. Progressive farmers no longer 

 destroy the nests of bumblebees. There are numerous species of small, 

 solitary bees which may be metallic, red, green, or yellow in coloration. 

 They are also valuable in pollination of plants, especially fruit blooms 

 and other crops. 



2. Ants. The ants have an advanced social life like the bees and con- 

 struct nests housing thousands of the members of a single social group. 



