130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



' Peduncle, pedicle, or pedicel. A stem or foot-stalk connecting two parts, or supporting a 

 segment. 



Scutel. A small piece of somewhat triangular form, between the bases of the wings. 



Seyment. A joint or section; used generally with respect to the abdomen. 



Serrate. With projections like the teeth of a saw. 



Stigma. A mark, or spot; generally used for an almost universal mark on the fore- 

 wing of some Orders. 



Sub. A prefix giving the meaning of "nearly but not quite;" as s«itriangular — 

 almost triangular. 



Suture. A seam, or place of union between two parts, usually admitting of motion. 



T hoi-ax. The segment of the body to which the wings and feet are attached, consisting 

 of three parts — the Prothorax, Mesothorax, and Metathorax, or front, middle, and hind 

 thorax ; the latter in some Orders projects some distance beneath the abdomen. 



Te(]ida. A small scale covering the basal joint of fore-wing in the Order Hijinenopttra. 



Venter. The belly; the under part of the abdomen. Ventral. Pertaining to the venter. 



Vertex. The top, the upper part; used generally of the head. 



Villose. Thicklj- clothed with short hairs. 



Worm. Properly a ringed animal, without vertebrce and having no antenn(s, no voice, 

 no legs, no true blood and no distinct head. Used in common language however, to 

 denote the lame or young of some insects. 



Every insect is hatched from an egg, but when first produced 

 is called a larva, plural, Idruce; (the caterpillar is the larva 

 of a moth, or a buttcrflj, the grub is the larva of a beetle, the 

 maggot is the Idrva of a fly.) This larva commences to eat 

 voraciously, and increases rapidly in size, changing its skin or 

 moulting at frequent intervals until a certain time, when it 

 casts off not only the skin but also its former head and feet 

 and is now called a papa, plural pajxc;* (the chrysalis is the 

 pupa of a butterfly.) In this state it no longer eats, but remains 

 almost motionless for a longer or shorter period, when it casts 

 off the skin for the last time, and appears in its final and perfect 

 form called the imdgo,\)\\\YQ]. imd<::ines ; (all winged or adult 

 insects avQ imagines.^ It has now ceased growing, and its only 

 object is to seek out its mate, and prepare for a succession of 

 oflspring ; most insects live but a few days and others a few 

 hours after arriving at this point, the majority requiring little 

 or no food during this condition of existence.* 



The modern system of classification is based upon the 

 anatomical structure of the imago, as well as the Jiature of 



* The exceptions to the foregoing rules are the Orders, Orthopiera, containing 

 the crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, &c. ; Neurdptera, or the may-Hies, case-flies, 

 devils' darning-needles, &c., and Ilcmiptera, comprising all bugs, plant-lice, 

 and harvest-tlies or cicadas (vulgarly called seventeen year " locusts," &c.) 

 Tlic insects pertaining to these Orders are equally active and voracious in all 

 their stages, and the line of demarcation between these stages is exceedingly 

 indistinct. 



