NATURE STUDY LESSONS. " 77 



Nature Study Lessons. XVI. 



BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 



Now that the children have saved the collections of in- 

 sects that they made during the summer, and have sepa- 

 rated them into orders, they will easily perceive, upon 

 observation, that smaller groups may be made from insects 

 of the same order, by putting those together which have a 

 sort of family resemblance. 



Thus, if the box containing the beetles, or Coleoptera, 

 is examined, a start may be made by selecting the Potato- 

 beetle, which, of course, every child knows by sight. It 

 has five lines on each wing-cover, and is sometimes called 

 " the ten-liner." Now it is probable that among the bee- 

 tles there is another, that was found on milkweed in 

 August, of almost the same shape and size as the Potato- 

 beetle, but of different color. It is deep-blue, except the 

 wing-covers, which are orange, with three dark-blue spots 

 on each. This is the Milkweed-beetle, and belongs to the 

 same family as the Potato-beetle. 



On the asparagus in the garden, in early spring, when 

 the young shoots were starting, and later, when the 

 branching asparagus was fully grown and had berries on 

 it, there was almost sure to be a small red, yellow and 

 black beetle. It is more slender than the Potato-beetle, 

 and much smaller, but it belongs to the same family, and 

 may be pinned in the same row in the beetle-box. It is, 

 of course, the Asparagus-beetle, which has come to be a 

 great pest wherever gardeners try to grow large quantities 

 of asparagus for the city markets. 



There will likely be some Tortoise- beetles in the box. 

 These belong to the same great family of leaf-eating bee- 

 tles, and are so called because they are flattened, and be- 

 cause they can hide their heads and legs, as a tortoise 



