INSECTS 



The insects belong to the class of the Arthropoda known 

 as the Insecta, or Hexapoda. The word "insect," as we 

 have seen, means "in-cut," while "hexapod" means "six- 

 legged" — either term, then, doing very well for insects. 

 The centipedes (Fig. 14 C) are the Myriapoda, or many- 

 footed arthropods; the crabs (A), shrimps, lobsters, and 

 others of their kind are the Crustacea, so called because 

 most of them have hard shells; the spiders (B) are the 

 Arachnida, named after that ancient Greek maiden so 

 boastful of her spinning that Minerva turned her into a 

 spider; but some arachnids, such as the scorpion, do not 

 make webs. 



The principal groups of insects are the orders. The 

 grasshopper and its relatives constitute an order; the 

 beetles are an order; the moths and butterflies are another 

 order; the flies another; the wasps, bees, and ants still 

 another. The grasshopper's order is called the Orthoptera, 

 the word meaning "straight-wings," but, again, not sig- 

 nificant in all cases, though serving very well as a name. 

 The order is a group of related families, and, in the Or- 

 thoptera, the grasshoppers, or locusts, make one family, 

 the katydids another, the crickets a third; and all these in- 

 sects, together with some others less familiar, may be said 

 to be the grasshopper's cousins. 



The orthopteran families are notable in many ways, 

 some for the great size attained by their members, some 

 for their remarkable forms, and some for musical talent. 

 While this chapter will be devoted principally to the 

 cousins of the grasshopper, a few things of interest may 

 still be said about the grasshopper himself, in addition to 

 what was given in the preceding chapter. 



The Grasshopper Family 



The family of the grasshoppers, or locusts, is the 

 Acrididae. All the members are much alike in form and 

 habits, though some have long wings and some short wings, 

 and some reach the enormous size of nearly six inches in 



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