Insects 21 S 



myriads, and have a curious tricic of clinging 

 together in stair-step clusters, often six or 

 seven long. Captive, they buzz like mad. 

 The black children caught the June-bugs by 

 handfuls, tied strings to their hind legs, then 

 let them fly the length of the strings, to hear 

 the buzzing which they call "Junein'." 

 They also called the bugs " Juney-bugs," 

 and ran about with a dozen on the same 

 string flying above their heads, and shouting 

 as they ran : " Juney bug ! Juney bug ! Fly 

 'way wid me ! " 



Billy-Boy's nurse always let him June a 

 big cluster — at the end of a very long string. 

 Neither Joe nor Patsy ever touched them 

 with bare hands — not that they feared them 

 — it was only that the June-bugs looked so 

 like the unclean tumble-bugs. What the 

 June-bugs ate nobody knew — unless they 

 really fed with the tumble-bugs. They spent 

 their time for the most part stair-stepping on 

 the under side of corn blades, and staying 

 motionless for hours. Yet they did not 

 seem to mind sunlight, often flying right out 

 into it, if they flew at all. Thus they were 

 unlike most of the corn's insect haunters. 

 Moths abound there. One of them, a strict 

 night-flier, gave Joe and Patsy heaps of occu- 

 pation. It was as big as a hummingbird, 

 with blackish gray wings, two on each side. 



