there was anything interesting about bugs before." It was just because 

 of that remark that I am writing this leaflet. Have you any idea how 

 many different kinds of insects there are in the world? Well, there 

 are hundreds of thousands. There are at least four times as many 

 different kinds of animals of this kind as of all the other kinds put 

 together. Plave you studied arithmetic yet? If you have you will 

 understand what I mean ^vhen I say that four-fifths of all the kinds 

 of animal life by number belong in the family in which the bugs are 

 found. So you see that they ought to interest us because they are so 

 numerous. Did you ever hear of insects darkening the sun? They do 

 sometimes, for they fly in such g];eat swarms that they hide the sim 

 just as it would be hidden by a heavy cloud. Do you think they 

 could ever stop one of the great trains that you see rushing past on the 

 railroad? They have done it, just because of their countless numbers. 

 In Indiana we do not often see such vast numbers at a single time, 

 iDut don't you remember sometimes how you have driven through 

 clouds of gnats, or how in the evening the fireflies have made the 

 meadow gleam like the lights of a distant city? If you watch this 

 summer you will be surprised to find how many times you will see 

 great swarms of bugs. Sometimes it will be in the morning, some- 

 times in the middle of the day, sometimes in the evening. When you 

 see them, if you have time, watch them and see if }'ou can find out 

 what becomes of them. 



Of this vast number of bugs or insects some are very helpful to man, 

 while others give him a great deal of trouble and often cause him to 

 lose his crops or harvested grain. Some of these insects help man, 

 because if it were not for their love of honey many plants -would not 

 set seed, and that would mean that, after a while, that plant would 

 entirely disappear. If all of the bumblebees in the world should be 

 killed the red cIovlt would also be destroyed, for red clover can only 

 set seed when visited by bunibleljet^s. Othc]-s of these bugs help man 

 because they eat the harmful ones, or destroy their eggs or young, 

 while others, such as the honey bee. furnisli him with food. 



A good deal of the harm done by insects is to growing crops. They 

 attack it at all times. Sometimes just as the seed has burst open and 

 IS sending out its tender stem and roots, sometimes they wait until 

 the leaves imfold and eat them, and sometimes thev leave the plant 

 untouched until the fruit is ripening and eat that. After the farmer 

 puts his grain in the granar)- it is not safe, for some of the bugs known 

 as weevils may find it and eat it, just as if it had been put carefully 



