ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— ORDERS OF INSECTS. 29 



The change is one of the most wonderful operations in nature. It is 

 as if the original larva had been entirely destroyed and an animal "of 

 an entirely new species had appeared. With its pupa integument, it 

 has lost all the organs characteristic of the larval stage, and an entire 

 new set have been provided. It now possesses six true legs, wings suited 

 for rapid flight, compound eyes, antennae, a more perfect nervous sys- 

 tem, while, in the case of many insects, the sharp, gnawing jaws of the 

 larva, which were adapted to cutting leaves or boring into wood, have 

 been replaced with long, delicate tubes suited to absorbing the nectar 

 of flowers. The very instincts of the insect are changed, and the life 

 habits of the larva and the imago are as different as their outward 

 appearance. 



THE ORDERS OF INSECTS. 



We have now given an outline of the structure and peculiarities of 

 insects as a whole, and have reached a point where we can segregate 

 them into groups or orders, which is necessary for closer study. As 

 stated before, there are seven principal orders of insects — Orthoptera, 

 Hemiptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepi- 

 doptera. There are, as we said, several minor orders, but the above 

 classification will answer our purpose and we will consider them in the 

 order named. 



Order ORTHOPTERA. 



Orthoptera means straight-winged, and alludes to the fact that the 

 hinder wings, when folded, lie perfectly straight down the back of the 

 insect without any folds. The anterior wings are of little, if any, serv- 

 ice in flight, serving principally as a covering for the large posterior 

 wings, which, when spread, are semicircular in shape, and open and 

 close like a fan. They are of large size, and the principal veins radiate, 

 like the sticks of a fan, from the center. Not all members of this order 

 are winged, however, many of them being apterous, or wingless. 



The head is usually large and very prominent, and the antennae 

 either short, stout, and few-pointed, as in the locust, or very long and 

 slender, as in the katydid. The head bears one pair of large compound 

 eyes and usually two or three ocelli or simple eyes, and the mouth parts 

 are suited for gnawing or biting. 



The Orthoptera have a direct or incomplete metamorphosis. The 

 young, when hatched, very much resemble the mature insect, and in 

 the first or larval stage are wingless. They pass through several molts 



