CHAPTER XIII 

 TYPICAL INSECTS 



THE abundance of insects, their variety of form, beautiful 

 colors, ingenious ways, remarkable adaptations to their mode 

 of life, and wonderful transformations make them excellent 

 material for nature-study. They are easily found, collected, 

 and kept alive in cages. There is no excuse for not illus- 

 trating these lessons with abundant specimens. Outdoor 

 observations can easily be made by the pupils individually, 

 and field lessons with the whole class can be successfully 

 conducted. 



Children are over-cautioned against insects, so that they 

 finally come to have a dread for them generally. This spoils 

 much of the pleasure they might otherwise enjoy at the sight 

 of insects and their many interesting devices. It would be 

 a kindness to children to teach them that this fear is un- 

 necessary. Much nonsense has been told and written about 

 being bitten and stung by insects with terrible results. In 

 our country, flies, mosquitoes, fleas, lice, bedbugs, ticks, 

 gnats, bees, and hornets are the most annoying or dangerous 

 insects. As for spiders, though not true insects, they may be 

 mentioned in this connection. They are, as a class, harm- 

 less, only the larger running spiders and the tarantula causing 

 painful, though not fatal, poisoning. 



The great economic importance of insects, their rapid 



175 



