74 AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



INSECTS OF THE FIELD. 



GRASSHOPPERS. We shall first refer to an insect that attacks 

 nearly all the plants of the field the grasshopper. You 

 catch one of these insects in the hayfield or the pasture 

 and carefully observe its form. First of all you count its 

 legs there are six, three on each side. By comparing with 

 other insects you notice that all except spiders have the same 

 number. You observe that its legs are jointed and that its very 

 long hind legs are well suited to jumping or hopping. Then 



Fig. 28. A Grasshopper. 



you notice that its body is put together in parts or sections. So 

 are those of other insects hence the name " in-sect." It has 

 also two long curved feelers sticking out in front of its head 

 (each is called an antenna and the two are called antennae). 

 Then observe the two large eyes and the mouth fitted for biting 

 or cutting through the leaf and the stalk of the grass. The 

 outside of the body is hard and the inside soft a dead, dried- 

 up grasshopper has the form of a live one. A horse or a 

 cow has its bones within and the soft flesh outside, but the 

 insect has its bony part, so to speak, on the outside. 



