1252 RrpAi. School Leaflet 



For various reasons it is not dcsiral)lc in rural schools to attempt to 

 make a general collection of insect life. First, some of the insects that 

 would be collected in such cases are beneficial instead of harmful; second, 

 children should be taught to observe and appreciate these forms in the 

 living state; and third, insect collections are very difificult to preserve 

 for more than a year or two with the materials that are available in the 

 school. 



It is desirable, however, to make each year collections of the injurious 

 insects that will show the different stages in the life history of each species. 

 With the collection there should be given a statement of the method of 

 control, which will be based largely on the life history and the habits of 

 the insect. 



In addition to the insects given in the State syllabus for special study 

 and recognition during the coming year, it is recommended that one 



biting and one sucking insect be studied. On pages 1264 to 1274 there is a 

 series of short articles on several of the more important biting and sucking 

 insects. In the list there is included one insect that is beneficial instead 

 of harmful in the belief that it is as important to recognize the insects 

 that are a help to the farmer as it is to know those that are injurious. 

 From time to time the attention of teachers and children will be called to 

 some of the insects that are beneficial. 



In the list of biting and sucking insects, the article on the apple-tree 

 tent caterpillar is reprinted from the leaflet of last year. This is done 

 because the apple-tree tent caterpillar is still a serious menace, and because 

 it affords a good opportunity for boys and girls to assist in the control of 

 a harmful insect. For the past two years school children in all parts of 

 the State have been collecting and destroying the egg masses of the tent 

 caterpillar during the fall and winter, and reports have been received at 

 the College showing that by actual count more than four million egg 

 clusters have been collected and destroyed, which at an average rate of 

 one hundred and fifty eggs a cluster would make a total of over six hundred 

 million eggs, a large percentage of which would have hatched into cater- 

 pillars had they been allowed to remain on the trees. Experience has shown 

 that it is very easy to strip off the egg rings without injuring the twigs, 

 and this is the most satisfactory way. 



Another phase of insect life can be studied in connection with the apple- 

 tree tent caterpillar, for it has as an enemy a wasplike insect that kills 

 the tent caterpillar in the pupa stage in the cocoon. Therefore wholesale 

 destruction of the cocoons as well as of the egg rings is not recom- 

 mended because many of the beneficial parasites might be destroyed in the 

 former case. The cocoons can be found during June and July and may 

 be collected and kept in jars covered with cheesecloth or netting until 



