126 THE NATURE STUDY COURSE. 



the parts and learned their names and uses." Howdid they learn 

 the uses ] "I told them those that they could not infer." . . . 

 "They made good drawings and seemed to enjoy the work." 

 The same work in the high school was called zoology ; repeated 

 in the puhlic school it is called Nature Study. But giving the 

 name does not make it the reality; perhaps it might better 

 have been called object-drawing. The heuristic quality of 

 Nature Study was absent. 



The Nature Study of insects should begin, then, with what 

 they do and how they live. The silkworm has been referred to 

 on page 48. Most other kinds of insects have to be caged in 

 some way if they are to be studied in the school-room. The 

 most convenient insectary for plant-feeders is a lamp or 

 Ian tern- chimney set over a potted plant which may have been 

 raised to feed insects, or transplanted when the insect was 

 found, or it may be used over twigs set in a tin-can filled with 

 wet sand. The captor should collect food of the kind the 

 insect was found feeding upon. The glass chimney must, of 

 course, be covered at its top with netting to admit air and 

 prevent the escape of the insect. Another easily improvised 

 insect cage is made from any suitable box, as a soap-box, from 

 which a part of the side has been removed and a glass slide 

 substituted therefor. The writer has successfully used a 

 paper hat-box, with a netting cover, for carrying certain 

 kinds of insects through their metamorphoses. The best 

 cheap insectary is made of a box 2 or 3 feet long, ends 

 18 to 24 inches high, and G or 8 inches wide, sides of wood 

 only 3 or 4 inches high, glass being fitted on these to carry 

 them up to the height of the ends. This is No. 2 in 

 the photogravure, opposite page 46. The cover consists of a 

 strip of wire gauze. Soil to the depth of 3 or 4 inches should 

 be put in the bottom of the insectary ; besides that some 

 insects pupate in the soil, it is useful in maintaining the 

 desirable condition of moisture. This box, with glass sides, 



