CHAPTER VII. 



INSECTS AND BIRDS. 

 SECTION XL. WHAT AN INSECT Is. 



By PROF. GLENN W. HERRICK. 

 Department of Entomology, Cornell University. 



What an Insect Is. Many people call any small, ac- 

 tive animal a bug. This is wrong. An insect is an 

 animal that has six legs, three distinct divisions of the 

 body, head, thorax and abdomen, and usually one or 

 two pairs of wings. A spider has eight legs, and is, 



Hind win 



Abdomen 



'Simple 

 eye 



..... -> /3L/ tt2LW ^ 

 Spiracles 



Middleleg fivhtleg 

 JJindleg 



PARTS OF AN INSECT (HERRICK*S ZOOLOGY). 



therefore, not an insect. Worms have no legs at all 

 and cannot be called insects. Familiar examples of in- 

 sects are grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, mosquitoes, 

 etc. Moreover, not all insects should be called bugs. 

 It is not right to call butterflies, bees, mosquitoes and 

 grasshoppers, bugs. There is a large group of insects 

 that have sucking mouth parts which have unpleasant 

 odors that we may rightly call bugs. The stink-bugs, 



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