6 INSECT LIFE. 



ings he is required to make or the accounts he is 

 asked to write. 



In the chapters following the numbered lessons 

 the study of aquatic insects is taken up first and con- 

 siderable attention is devoted to it. This has been 

 done on account of the fascination which streams 

 and ponds have for most people, and on account of 

 the ease with which the habits of many aquatic in- 

 sects can be studied in aquaria. A few jars of water 

 with plants and insects in them can be made a never- 

 ending source of interest and instruction. 



It is obvious that in order to direct well work of 

 this kind the teacher should be thoroughly acquainted 

 with the subjects studied by the pupils. The diffi- 

 culties that have been in the way of the teachers that 

 have tried to obtain a systematic knowledge of in- 

 sects is doubtless the chief reason that insect life has 

 not been studied more in the public schools. An 

 appreciation of these difficulties led the author and 

 illustrator of this book to prepare first, for the use of 

 teachers, a comprehensive text-book, by means of 

 which the teacher can easily prepare himself to 

 direct the study of his pupils. This is entitled A 

 Manual for the Study of Insects.* 



In this study, perhaps more than in any other 

 taught in the secondary schools, the pleasure of con- 

 stantly learning something new can be shared by the 

 teacher with the pupils. The writer has had an un- 

 usually broad experience in teaching this subject, but 

 he has never yet taken a class into the field without 

 finding something new to him. 



* Published by the Comstock Publishing Company, Ithaca, N. Y. 



