38 NATURE STUDY. 



Nature Study Lessons. XIV. 



BV EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 



If, in their collecting, the children hav^e had some sort 

 of net, there will almost surel}^ be some butterflies among 

 the insects taken. If, too, the boys and girls were quick 

 with their nets, there will certainly be some skippers iu the 

 pile, and very likel}^ some moths. For, while moths fly 

 most by night, there nearlj' alwa3'S are some kinds in the 

 grass and among the bushes which may be caught in the 

 daytime. 



While the butterflies, skippers and moths are quite un- 

 like in some ways, and differ greatly among themseU^es, 

 they have some things in common, and may all be placed 

 in one pile. For, although they differ much, they are all 

 less like other insects than they are like one another, and 

 so belong to the same group, or order, as it is called — as 

 the beetles belong to one order, and the bugs to another. 



The beetles are called Coleoptera, or "sheath-wings," 

 because they have wing-covers, or sheaths, for their wings, 

 and the bugs are called Hemiptera, or "half-wings," be- 

 cause many of them have wings that are thick and leath- 

 ery in one part and thin and veined in another. In the 

 same way, the butterflies, skippers and moths are called 

 lycpidoptera, or "scale-wings," because their wings are 

 covered with scales. These scales, however, cannot be 

 seen without a microscope, and look like fine dust when 

 rubbed in the fingers. 



The butterflies, skippers and moths have a tongue un- 

 like other insects. It is long, slender and hollow, is used 

 in pumping nectar from flowers, and is rolled into a little 

 coil under the head when not wanted. In a dead insect 

 which has not yet become dry and hard, this tongue can 



