MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY. 275 



taken into the hands, of producing a squeaking noise "by rubbing the joints 

 of the thorax and abdomen together." These beetles are called the Capricorn 

 beetles ; their larvae are the most powerful and destructive of our borers. The 

 Criocerididce, (oblong leaf beetles;) HespidcB, (little leaf beetles,) and other 

 leaf-eating beetles, included in several families, are also very injurious. Those 

 most destructive among them are the striped cucumber beetles that attack 

 squash and other vines, and the various flea beetles that attack the leaves of 

 turnips, &c. The CantliaridcB, (blistering beetles,) are also injurious to vege- 

 tation. For full and accurate descriptions of the above insects and those men- 

 tioned hereafter, see Harris's "Insects Injurious to Vegetation," published by 

 the legislature of Massachusetts in 1841 and 1S52, and republished and illus- 

 trated in 1S62. 



ORTHOPTERA. 



The insects of this order, with the exception of the family Mantidce, (camel 

 crickets,) are injurious to agriculture. They may be recognized by their 

 straight wings when folded along the back, " being covered by a pair of thicker 

 wing-like members." In this group are included the grasshoppei'S, locusts, 

 crickets, cockroaches, and others of this description. Their food consists of 

 grass, fruits, the leaves and bark of trees, and shrubs. In some sections these 

 insects are exceedingly numerous, and they inflict a great amount of damage. 

 They are greedily eaten by the various insectivorous mammals and most of 

 the birds ; snakes also capture them in great numbers. 



NEUROPTERA, 



This order includes all those insects known as dragon flies, darning needles, 

 water flitters, and all the others that have the peculiar nerved wings of these 

 species. These insects are all beneficial ; they are carnivorous, or rather ra- 

 pacious, and subsist entirely upon other insects, principally Lepidoptera, of 

 which they destroy great quantities. 



HEMIPTERA. 



The insects of this order are all injurious ; they are distinguished by having, 

 instead of jaws, like the three preceding orders, "a slender beak, which, when 

 not in use, is bent under the body, and lies upon the breast between the legs. 

 This instrument consists of a horny sheath, containing in a groove along its 

 upper surface three stiff bristles as sharp as needles. Bugs have no jaws, but 

 live by sucking the juices of animals and plants, which they obtain by piercing 

 them Avith their beaks." Some of these insects have no wings, like the com- 

 mon bed-bug. Probably the most noxious insects of this order are found in 

 the Aphidldce, of which the grain aphis, or grain louse, so well known in this 

 country of late years, is the type. The Coccidce (bark lice) are also very in- 

 jurious to trees. 



LEPIDOPTERA, 



The insects in this order are all very destructive, principally in the cater- 

 pillar form. The different butterflies and moths are included in it, and their 

 characteristics are well known, their name is suggested by the manner in 

 which their wings are clothed with scales ; these are exceedingly minute, re- 

 sembling a dusty substance when rubbed off" the insects on the finger. The 

 caterpillars of the apple-tree moth are probably the most injurious in this order, 

 although for a few years past the army worm, the caterpillar of Lcucania 

 unipuncta, (Haworth,) has created great damages in grain and grass fields. 



HVMENOPTERA. 



These insects, like the bees, wasps, &c., "having four membraneous wings, 

 biting jaws, and a sting in the extremity of the abdomen, belong to this order, 



