INSECTS. 



721 



this family. The scarabee, or sacred Egyptian beetle, also will be found 

 classed with the coleoptera. Many of these beetles are excellent scavengers, 

 and some called burying beetles remove the soil underneath the carcases 

 of birds and other small dead animals, letting them fall down below the 

 ground level ; the beetles then lay their eggs in the body, so that sustenance 

 may be at hand for the young when hatched. 



The ORTHOPTERA include our cockroaches, miscalled "black beetles," the 

 locusts, crickets, etc. The ravages of the locust are well known. The larvae 

 of the orthoptera has no wings, but otherwise is very like the grown insect. 

 They change their skins frequently before they become perfect insects. 



Passing the " nerve-winged " dragon-flies and caddis, whose larvae case 

 is so familiar and useful as bait, we come to the very important and interest- 

 ing order of HYMENOPTERA, with four membranous wings. In this rank 

 we find bees, wasps, and ants, the first and last named being proverbial for 

 industry and examples of almost super- 

 human reasoning powers, and a similitude 

 to man's arrangements in labour and house- 

 building marvellous to contemplate. A 

 study of the habits of ants, bees, and wasps 

 will reveal a state of society existing amongst 

 them which more nearly resembles man in 

 feelings and habits, for these insects possess 

 means of oral communication. 



All these insects are armed with a 

 sting, or other offensive weapon. The ant 

 possesses the " formic " acid, which derives 

 its name from the possessor. The destruc- 

 tive white ants will eat away a wooden 

 house very quickly, sapping and mining it 



in all direc- 

 tions till it 

 is a mere magnificd) - 



skeleton. The habits of bees are so well 

 known and have been so often described 

 that we need not detail them. The manner 

 in which the ants " milk " the aphides is 

 curious and interesting. 



The STREPSIPTERA order includes very 

 few species, so we may pass quickly to the 

 LEPIDOPTERA, the butterflies and moths, 

 whose beautiful colourings and markings have 

 ed) " attracted us all from childhood. There are 



about 12,000 species of the lepidoptera, and they are divided into "moths" 

 and " butterflies, " the former being seen in twilight, or darkness, the latter 

 in sunlight. They can readily be distinguished by the antennae, those of 



46 



"ig. 852. Honey-lapping apparatus of wild sea. 

 bee (Halictus), (a, magnified ; a 



a b, more highly 



