36 Descriptive Zoology. 



name. The larva breathes by a tube at the hinder end of the body. 

 The pupa is also active ; it breathes air through two tubes which grow 

 out of the thorax. The piercing and sucking tube of the adult consists 

 of several mouthpieces which fit snugly together. Only the female bites. 

 She is a cheerful individual, singing as she goes about her work. Some 

 excellent authorities believe that mosquitoes are the chief agents in intro- 

 ducing the germs of malaria into the human system. Pouring kerosene 

 on the water in which mosquitoes are breeding will kill them, and this 

 is probably a more practical method of reducing their number than might 

 be at first supposed, for kerosene, like any other oily substance when on 

 water, spreads out in an exceedingly thin film, a little of it going a long 

 way. 



Diptera. This order of insects receives its name from 

 the fact that its members have but two wings, as seen in 

 the flies and mosquitoes. The life history of the house fly 

 is fairly typical. The knobbed balancers (rudimentary 

 hinder wings) are called "halteres." 



ORDER COLEOPTERA. 



The May Beetle. This brown fellow is well known, but 

 more commonly under the incorrect name "June bug." 

 You will hardly need to hunt for a specimen, for if you 

 leave your window open as you sit by your lamp on an 

 evening in May or June, he will come to you. Instead of 

 picking him up and throwing him out of the window, as you 

 have been in the habit of doing, lay down your book and 

 study him, for he will teach you more about himself than 

 you could possibly learn from any book in the same length 

 of time. At his best he is a poor flier, and, bewildered by 

 the glare of light, he is more clumsy than ever ; if he bumps 

 against the lamp and falls upon the table, you will have a 

 good look at him. Note the order in which the legs are 

 moved in crawling. Try to pick him up and find how he 



