Animals. 81 



Teacher. Where do the dragon flies-live ? 



Willie. They fly around where there is water. 



Teacher. That is because they feed on mosquitoes. How 

 do you know that this creature is an insect? 



Helen. It has six legs and there are three parts to the 

 body. 



Teacher. Describe the head, Mary. 



Mary. The head is large. It has two big eyes bigger 

 than the rest of the head. 



Teacher. How is the head fastened to the body ? 



George. By a small cord. The head is very loose and 

 will turn about. 



Teacher. Describe the chest or thorax, Charlie. 



Charlie. The chest is twice as large as the head. The 

 six legs are on the lower side. The four wings are on the 

 upper side. 



Teacher. What do the wings look like ? 



AILA, net. 



Teacher. Has the dragon-fly any balancers like the 

 house-fly ? How many joints in the abdomen ? Describe 

 the tail. Notice the short hairs on the legs. Have any of 

 you ever seen larger ones ? Smaller ones ? Let us collect 

 different kinds for our collection. 



THE FISH. 



I have found it very interesting to take almost any living 

 thing, such as a fish or a canary bird, bring it to the school- 

 room in its globe or cage, and let the children study the liv- 

 ing creature. There is vastly more interest awakened in 

 observing anything alive than the same thing dead. The 

 crickets, bees, and other insects are always better studied 

 under a glass when living than when pinned out stiff in 

 death upon a cork. We must not lose sight of the fact that 

 it is nature we are studying rather than science as such. 



Material. i. If possible have a living fish swimming in 

 a. dish, A goldfish is good. Goldfish can be hired in the 



