12 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE. 



for the purpose of our readers, probably, as any, as the more minute 

 divisions, while undoubtedly correct, are more confusing and less suit- 

 able for the non-professional. So we will take the seven orders, as 

 follows: 



Orthoptera: The straight- winged; as grasshoppers, crickets, 

 cockroaches, etc. 



Hemiptera: The half-winged; as plant bugs, aphids, scale bugs, etc. 



Cpleoptera: The sheath-winged; as beetles of all kinds. 



Diptera: The two- winged; as two- winged flies of all kinds. 



Hymenoptera: The membrane-winged; as bees, wasps, ants, etc. 



Lepidoptera: The scale- winged; as butterflies and moths. 



Neuroptera: The nerve-winged. This order includes all the 

 rest; as dragon-flies, lace-winged flies, etc. 



The more minute division, according to Comstock, includes the fol- 

 lowing, which have principally been removed from the last-named 

 order and erected into separate orders: 



Thysanura: The bristle-tails, spring-tails, fish-moths, etc. 

 Ephemerida: Mayflies. 

 Odonata: Dragon-flies. 

 Plecoptera: Stone-flies. 

 Isopoda: Termites or white ants. 

 Corrodentia: Book lice. 

 J Malophaga: Bird lice. 

 Dermaptera: Earwigs. 

 Physopoda: Thrips. 

 Mecaptera: Scorpion-flies. 

 Trichoptera: Caddice-flies. 

 Syphonaptera: Fleas. 



These' minor orders are not of much interest to the average man, 

 so it will not be out of place to consider them in their connection with 

 the other orders which contain the great bulk of insects important to 

 us, from either their beneficial or their destructive standpoint. 



We have now some idea of the manner in which insects are divided 

 into various classes, and it is necessary that we should learn the dis- 

 tinguishing features of them, in order that we may know to which of 

 the various orders and families they belong. This we shall endeavor 

 to make plain; but first it is -necessary to know what an insect is, and 

 something of the peculiarities which separate it from the other branches 

 of the animal world. After considering this, we shall take up the 

 principal orders and point out wherein they differ one from the other. 



