LOCUSTS, BUTTERFLIES, BEES, WASPS 166 



iias , swept over the western states in vast swarms, has 

 proven itself one of the worst insect scourges that this 

 country has ever seen. At such times it hterally ate all 

 the vegetation in its path and almost produced a famine 

 in the territory it touched. Fifty miUions of dollars' worth 

 of farm products were eaten by these locusts in the seasons 

 of 1874-1876 alone. Asia and South America have their 

 swarms of migratory locusts. A swarm of locusts covering 

 an area of two thousand square miles passed over the Red 

 Sea in November of 1889, a truly modern plague of locusts. 

 How the locust is protected. — The color of the locust's 

 wings blends so nicely with the dusty highways and the bare 

 roadsides that many of its enemies must fail to find it. 

 Besides, its strong wings enable it to take swift and im- 

 mediate flight if in danger. Finally, its strong hind legs 

 enable it to leap quickly out of the way of many of its 

 enemies. 



Anothee Example of the Insecta — ^the White Cab- 

 bage Butterfly (Fig. 103) 



How the butterfly resembles the locust. — The butterfly 

 has the body segmented and diAdded into three main regions : 

 head, thorax, and abdomen, similar to the locust. It also 

 has six segmented legs and two pairs of wings borne by the 

 thorax, as in the locust. Its digestive, excretory, and cir- 

 culatory systems are practically the same as those of the 

 locust. 



How the butterfly differs from the locust. — The butterfly 

 differs from the locust in the structure of its wings; the 

 structure of its mouth parts; the kind of food eaten and 

 the manner of eating it; in its manner of locomotion; in 



