INSECTS. 309 



and corn-fields, the grasshoppers, when winged, often at- 

 tack the foliage of our young orchard trees toward the 

 end of summer. But when we contemplate the invasicn 

 of the great western plague, belonging to this order, 

 Avhich rivals that terrible scourge, the Locust of the east- 

 ern continent, in numbers and voracity, we may well 

 dread their increase and appearance in other parts of the 

 country. The grasshoppers that have invaded Kansas 

 and other Western States are, like all the rest of this 

 group of Orthoptera, true Locusts. 



This order is called Orthoptera, from their straight 

 wings; it embraces several groups, cockroaches, crickets, 

 grasshoppers, or locusts, etc., which are all injurious, ex- 

 cept the Mantis, which is predacious, and therefore useful. 



HEMIPTERA. BUGS AND HARVEST-FLIES. 



This order contains many insects that are injurious to 

 the nurseryman, to the "orchardist, and to the gardener. 

 They are characterized by having a proboscis instead of 

 a mouth with jaws; they can suck, but they cannot bite. 

 The proboscis is often horny, and armed with two pair of 

 bristles, when it becomes a more formidable weapon for 

 attack. Bugs have four wings ; they do not pass through 

 the usual metamorphoses of insect life ; but are born with 

 legs and feeding apparatus like the perfect insects, except 

 that some have no wings. Bugs are all injurious to man, 

 excepting such as are predacious, which are serviceable by 

 destroying other insects. Many are very small ; and yet 

 their countless numbers and wonderful fecundity enable 



