322 PLANT FRIENDS AND PLANT PESTS 



tory or cycle begins over again. Much harm is done in 

 our gardens by insects in the larval stage, as, for exam- 

 ple, caterpillars, cutworms, wireworms, and the like. A 

 great many insects, in the adult stage, however, do dam- 

 age by sucking juices from plants. These are bugs, and 

 are known by their long sucking beaks. The seventeen- 

 year locust or common cicada, and the squash bug, are 

 good examples. Still other adult insects such as the 

 locusts, commonly called grasshoppers, do much harm by 

 chewing grass or vegetables which make up their food. 



Collecting insects. A very interesting and profitable 

 pastime is the collection and identification of different 

 kinds of insects. It is very easy to get an equipment 

 necessary to collect them. A few cigar boxes, pieces of 

 flat cork, insect pins, a cyanide bottle, 1 and a collecting 

 net are all of the implements necessary. Insects are di- 

 vided by scientists into orders, or groups, which have cer- 

 tain characteristics in common. There are nineteen orders, 

 but only five or six are very common, and these are 

 quite easily learned. Study any good elementary biology, 

 and you will soon be able to distinguish the chief orders. 

 For our purposes it is enough for us to know the insects 

 which do harm in our gardens by chewing, and the insects 

 which do harm by sucking. 



Experiment. To learn to recognize insects that frequent flowering or 



garden plants. 

 Method: This work may best be taken on a field trip. 



Note : Insects have been shown to be animals that have three 



1 A cyanide bottle is made by taking a wide-mouth bottle or a fruit 

 jar, placing in it a small piece of cyanide of potassium, and covering this 

 quickly with soft plaster of Paris. The cyanide is deadly poison. The 

 fumes are sufficient to make you sick, so a cyanide bottle is best prepared 

 by some older person, and should be handled with great care. 



