*^ ) 29S THE GENESEE FARMER. ' >^ ' 



under -wing-covers. Beetles, of whicli there are over four thousand species known, 

 belong to this order. Beetles are not bugs, although often called such. They have 

 jaws for biting, and are nothing lothe to use them for that purpose. Bugs {Hemiptera 

 half-iuingers) take their food by suction through a beak or rostrum, and differ from 

 beetles in other respects. Under the two thick wing-covers which meet in a straight 

 line on the back, beetles have two filmly wings that fold transversely. Their larvje are 

 grubs, and generally provided with six true legs, and sometimes with a terminal prop- 

 leg ; more rarely without legs. The pupse have wings and legs distinct and uneonfined. 

 Many of these insects, particularly in the grub state, are very injurious to vegetation. 

 The grubs which so abound in dead and living forest trees are mostly the young of 

 beetles. 



Order 2. OrtJioptera (cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, &c.) Orthoptera is derived 

 from the Greek orthos, straight ; ptero7i, a wing. The wings of this order are four ; two 

 rather thick and opake upper wings, overlapping a little on the back, and two longer 

 thin wings, which are folded in plaits like a fan. Transformation partial ; larvae and 

 pupK active, but wanting wings. All the insects of this order, except the camel cricket 

 i^Mantidice), which prey on other insects, are injurious ta our household possessions, or 

 destructive to vegetation. H' 



Order 3. Hemiptera (bugs, locusts, plant-lice, &c.) To this order belong insects 

 with a horny-beak for suction ; four wi«gs, of which the uppermost are generally thick 

 at the base, with thinner extremities which lie flat and cross each other on the top of 

 the back, or are of uniform thickness throughout, and slope at the sides like a roof. 

 Transformation partial ; larvae and pupae nearly like the adult insect, but wanting wings. 

 The word Hemiptera is derived from the Greek hemisus, half, and pteron, a wing, half- 

 winged insects. The outer wings are often half horny and half membranaceous; and 

 in some species shorter than the body, or entirely wanting, as in the bed-bug. 



Order 4. Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths.) Insects of this order have a mouth 

 with a spiral sucking tube ; wings four, covered with branny scales. Transformation 

 complete. The larvae are caterpillars, and have six true legs, and from four to ten fleshy 

 prop-legs. Pupa with the cases of the wings, and of the wings indistinct and soldered 

 to the breast. The word Lepidoptera is derived from Icpos, a scale (like that of a fish) ; 

 pteron, a wing. The white, mealy substance that adheres to the fingers when butter- 

 flies and moths, or millers are handled, is composed of minute shining scales. Butterflies 

 extract nectar from flowers by their long flexible sucking tubes. 



Order 6. Hymenoptera (sawflies, ants, bees, &c.) Insects with jaws; four-veined 

 wings, in most species, the hinder pair being smallest, and a piercer or sting at the 

 extremity of the abdomen. Transformation complete ; larvae mostly maggot-like, or 

 *slug-likei of some, caterpillar-like; pupae with legs and wings uneonfined. The word 

 hymenoptera is derived from hymen, a membrane; pteron, a wing — meaning insects 

 with membranaceous wings. 



Order 6. Diptera (mosqujtos, gnats, flies, &c.) Insects with two wings only, having 

 a horny or fleshy proboscis, and two knobbed threads called balancers, or poisers, behind 

 the wings. Transformation complete. The larvao are maggots without feet, and with 

 the breathing-holes generally in the hinder part of the body; pupse mostly incased in 

 the dried skin of the larva?, sometimes, however, naked, in which case the wnngs and 

 legs are visible, and more or less free and uneonfined. The word diptera is derived 

 from dis, two, or twice, and pteron, wing; two-winged insects. 



We shall give one or more articles on each of the above orders, and endeavor to 

 explain the economy, and suggest ways and means for destroying these pestiferous 

 animals. They destroy every year more than twenty million dollars' worth of 

 property. 



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