58 INSECT LIFE. 



rule, live in damp places, and feed on decaying vege- 

 table matter. They are harmless, except that occa- 

 sionally they feed upon growing plants. 



Class Hexapoda (Hex-ap'o-da). 

 The Insects. 



Insects differ from the other classes of the Arthrop- 

 oda in having only three pairs of legs, and usually 

 in having wings in the adult state. They have a sin- 

 gle pair of antennas and the segments of the body 

 are grouped into three regions : head, thorax, and 

 abdomen. 



The name Hexapoda is from two Greek words : 

 hex, six, and pous, foot. Numerous examples of in- 

 sects are figured in the following portions of this 

 chapter. 



THE ORDERS OF THE CLASS HEXAPODA. 



The class Hexapoda, or insects, is divided into 

 nineteen orders. In our Manual for the Study of In. 

 sects these orders and the families of which they are 

 composed are discussed in detail, but in these first 

 lessons we can only briefly refer to each order. The 

 following table is taken from the Manual. This 

 table of orders is merely intended to aid the pupil in 

 determining to which of the orders a specimen that 

 he is examining belongs. No effort has been made to 

 indicate in the table the relation of the orders to each 

 other. 



