68 Lessons in Nature Study. 



them out of the house ? How can we get flies to go out of 

 the house of their own free will ? By darkening the house and 

 by leaving one light opening, as a window-blind partly open. 

 Flies abhor darkness and fly toward the light-crack. They 

 will soon pass out if it be a warm sunny day outside. 



Are flies of any use to man ? How ? Take a piece of 

 sticky fly-paper and when several flies have become entan- 

 gled take a simple magnifying glass and examine carefully. 

 If you find one which is gray in color, or one which has 

 small bright scarlet specks on it, look at such a fly closely. 

 The gray dust and scarlet specks will be found to be lice 

 which live on the fly. 



Did you ever find flies under a board or stone ? Why do 

 not flies live as crickets, ants, and beetles do ? Nature has 

 given different tastes and inclinations to insects, as she has 

 to different races of men. Some prefer the dark, damp se- 

 clusion of the earth, others the sunny freedom of the atmos- 

 phere, but all work together for good in one way or an- 

 other. 



Repeat the Spider and the Fly. What is the parlor ? 

 The "winding staircase"? etc., etc. 



The Grasshopper. 



Henry has just brought me a fine grasshopper. He 

 caught it in the yard. Are they easily caught ? How do 

 they move from place to place ? Why do they move so ? 

 Let us place him under this tumbler and we will watch him. 

 Can you tell me how I know that the grasshopper is an in- 

 sect ? Why so called? He has six legs. His body is 

 three-parted." 



Let us first study his head. Examine the eyes under this 

 glass. Are they compound eyes, like those of the dragon-fly ? 

 Examine the feelers (antennae). How are they built up? 

 Look under the eyes and see him move the lips. See the 

 small feelers on the lower lip. These are palps. How 

 many parts has the chest (thorax) ? To which part are the 



