4 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [January, 



/.u»>ii>;^ic;ii >tiui\ »>i .imm.ii> iiKiian>< Micli subjects US liavc been 

 toiicheil upon m our example of" the {Tiasshoper, viz : Anatomy, 

 or the construction of animals ; f>/ivsio/og'\\ or the actit)n ot" the or- 

 gans ; emhrvoloji^^Y, or the chan<;es {j;one through by the animal 

 in developing trom the egg. 



III. SoMK OrnKK Insects. 



The scientific study of" zoology takes a somewhat thorough 

 study of some animal form as a point of departure toward the 

 study of other animals, and the studies then become comparative. 

 After having become familiar with the grasshopper, it will be of 

 advantage for the student of tiie subject to compare the grass- 

 hopper, at least as far as regards the outward plan and subdi- 

 vision of the bodv. witii other familiar animals which are similar 

 enough to permit comparisons. 



1. The Cricket (Fig lo), Gryllus abhreviatits^ is an animal 

 which in manv respects resembles the grasshopper, and yet does 

 not look verv much like one. It lives in grassy, sandy places, 

 beneath dry lioards : sometimes it hops short <listanccs, but more 

 commonlv runs very rapidly, much taster in fact than a grass- 

 hopper can, and it never Hies. Its body presents* the same prin- 

 cipal and minor external parts. There are three regions: head, 

 thorax, and abdomen. The head, moreover, presents compound 

 eyes, antennie, and mouth-parts, two lips, and two pairs of side 

 jaws, and furthermore the maxilla has 5-jointed palpus, and 

 the labium a 3-jointed palpus, and the jaws are used for 

 biting. The thorax is divided into a prothorax with pronotum 

 and one pair of legs, and a region behind this bearing two pairs 

 of legs and two pairs of modified wings, anterior ones somewhat 

 as in the grasshopper, and hind wings verv small and rudimentary. 

 The abdomen is jointed and tipped posteriorlv in the female by 

 extremely long ovipositors. The hind legs of the cricket are 

 much larger than the others, just as in the grasshopper, but they 

 are not used in jumping to any such extent as in the grasshopper. 



2. The May-beetle (Fig. 12), Lachnosterna fusca (see 

 Packard's Entoniol. for Beginners, p. 94), is a creature which 

 flies in the evening at dusk in early summer. Its large brown 

 body and awkward movements and buzzing sound, as well as its 

 attraction toward the light, make it a familiar animal to nearly 

 everybotly. It looks very unlike a grasshopper or cricket, and 

 yet on close inspection it is found to correspond with them in 

 almost every part of its body ; not indeed in the shape of parts, 

 but in the number and relative situation of the parts. The main 

 divisions of the body are head, thorax, and abdomen. The head, 

 furthermore, bears compound eves, one pair of antenna;, lips and 

 biting jaws, the latter being mandibles, and maxilla;, the maxilla; 



'These condensed descriptions should be verified by examination of specimens with draw- 

 ing. 



