38 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. 



of the abdomen. The larvae are aquatic, and make peculiar 

 cases in which they live in the water. 



LEPIDOPTERA. Moths and butterflies. Plate IV. A 

 large and important order, including some of the largest and 

 most beautiful of all insects. The wings are covered with 

 scales. Many species are pests of vegetation, but many others 

 are useful in carrying pollen from flower to flower. 



DIPTERA. Flies and mosquitoes. Plate V. The insects 

 of this large order have but two wings, which are usually trans- 

 parent. There are many species, and some of them are very 

 abundant. This order furnishes a number of important pests, 

 and is probably more dangerous to man, on account of some of 

 its members transmitting disease germs, than any other order 

 of insects. 



SIPHONAPTERA. Fleas. A small order of small-sized 

 wingless insects, usually considered as an ofl-shoot from the 

 Diptera, though sometimes included as a part of that order. 

 Fleas annoy man and the domestic animals, and recently have 

 been found to be important agents in transmitting the germs of 

 bubonic plague. 



COLEOPTERA. Beetles. Plate V. One of the largest 

 and most important orders of insects, easily recognized on ac- 

 count of the horny wing covers. Some species are found in 

 almost every kind of habitat. Many are distinctly injurious, 

 though the predaceous forms, like ground beetles, are regarded 

 as beneficial. In size, beetles vary from microscopic to nearly 

 three inches in length. About 12,000 species are known in 

 North America. 



HYMENOPTERA. Bees, wasps, ants, saw-flies, horn- 

 tails, and ichneumon flies. Plate V. A large and important 

 order, commonly regarded as the most highly developed of all 

 insects. Some groups, like the bees, ants, and certain wasps, are 

 social in their habits. Most of the Hymenoptera are beneficial. 

 The honey bee gives us honey and wax, and the ichneumon flies 

 parasitize many injurious species. The honey bees and their 

 near relatives play an important part in the pollination of plants, 

 and the orchardist owes his fruit crop to the agency of this 

 group of insects. 



