8 LIFE STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN INSECTS. 



crickets. As it is the male in most cases which 

 makes the strongest sounds, it is supposed to be 

 a call-note chiefly for the female. Taste. — The 

 sense of taste is located in thetroof of the mouth, 

 but when the mouth is such as not to permit of this, 

 the organs immediately around the mouth serve 

 the purpose by means of minute depressions. Ex- 

 periments prove that the sense of taste is more 

 keenly developed in some insects than in others. 

 SmelL — The antennas are thought to act as organs 

 of smell. 



Development of an Insect. — Every insect is de- 

 veloped from an tgg, which as a rule is deposited, 

 but in a few cases is hatched within the body; in 

 this case a living larva is the result; ex.: some 

 species of flies. 



The eggs vary in shape and size, and when ex- 

 amined with a lens some show beautiful carvings, 

 knobs, etc. The color of eggs varies from cream, 

 white, grey, green, brown, even to bright orange. 



Eggs are found according to the feeding habits 

 of the larvae — on leaves, on bark, on or in soil, on 

 rock, in cracks, etc. Sometimes they are enclosed 

 in a capsule ; ex. : the cockroach ; in the case 

 of the Praying Mantis they are enveloped in 

 a tough, spongy case (Plate 7, Fig. 3). They are 

 usually sticky when first laid, and so stick fast to 

 the leaf, etc., on which they are placed. In many 

 phasmids the eggs are seed-like and are dropped to 

 the ground wlien the adults are on the plants. 



The Metamorphosis of the insect means the 

 changes which the insect undergoes from its hatch- 



