26 INSECT LIFE. 



LESSON IX. 



PREPARATION FOR A COLLECTING TRIP. 



Having learned something about the structure of 

 a locust, which was taken as a typical insect, we are 

 ready to begin the study of other insects. In doing 

 this we will first learn how to collect and preserve 

 specimens ; after that we will study the classification 

 of insects and the life histories of some of them. 



The forms of insects are numberless, and their 

 ways are as varied as are their forms. As we walk 

 over the fields they spring up before us or scurry 

 away through the grass. Some fly lazily here and 

 there ; others dart back and forth with the rapidity of 

 thought. We crush them under foot by a careless 

 step ; we find them on every shrub and tree ; and 

 the streams and ponds are peopled by them. 



Let us approach their study with kindly feelings, 

 bent on learning what we can concerning them and 

 their ways, and putting aside the false notion that 

 many of us have been taught that these creatures are 

 to be despised. The great majority of them can be 

 regarded as our friends, for they are of service 

 to us ; others, while not actually beneficial, do us no 

 appreciable harm ; a few, and they are only a few 

 compared with the great number that make up the 

 insect world, interfere with our happiness. These 

 we are forced to fight ; but the combat is one of self- 

 defense and not a war against an enemy that harms 

 us maliciously. 



In making a collection for study it will be neces- 

 sary for us to kill specimens; but we will do this as 



