4 MISC. PUBLICATION 318, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
A scientific name, in addition to helping to classify an insect or 
show its relationship to other insects, aids in designating more clearly 
the particular insect referred to. There are several insects that have 
the same common name. For instance, potato beetle is a name which 
may refer to the Colorado potato beetle, the black blister beetle (old- 
fashioned potato bug), or the tiny flea beetle; but if we say Leptino- 
tarsa decemlineata, 1t doesn’t matter whether we are in the United 
States, England, or China, the entomologist knows the beetle to which 
we refer. Let us analyze Leptinotarsa decemlineata and see what 
the words mean: 
Leptinotarsa: From leptos, meaning thin, and tarsos or tarsus, 
meaning part of insect leg. 
decemlineata: From deca, meaning 10, and linea, meaning line. 
Thus we have Leptinotarsa decemlineata, an insect with small 
tarsus and 10 lines on its back. The technical name of an insect 
often refers to some part of the insect, or to the plant or animal 
on which the insect feeds. 
Insects may have different common names. Take the corn earworm, 
for instance. In places where tomatoes are grown extensively, this 
worm is called the tomato fruitworm; in the cotton sections it is 
called the cotton bollworm, and in corn-growing sections it is referred 
to as the corn earworm. But if we say Heliothis obsoleta, the ento- 
mologist anywhere will know the insect we mean. 
No doubt many boys and girls will want to refer to the scientific 
names of some insects. Tor this reason, in the discussion accompany- 
ing the pictures, on pages 13 to 40, are mentioned the common name, 
and the names for the order, genus, and species of several of our 
common insects. It must be remembered that in referring to the 
scientific name, only the names for genus and species are given. 
COLLECTION AND IDENTIFICATION 
It is hoped that club members will make an insect collection, 
and that after a few years each member will have representative 
specimens of the more important orders of insects and note sheets 
giving a complete description of each. Beginners should endeavor 
to have by the end of the first year insects representative of the 
following eight orders: 
ORTHOPTERA.—Orthos (straight), pteron (a 
wing). Four wings, when present; front wings 
leathery, straight; hind wings folding fanlike 
under them. Chewing mouth parts. Antennae 
and legs usually long. Life changes (meta- 
morphosis) incomplete. Grasshoppers, crickets, 
FIGURE 2.—Grasshopper. katydids, roaches, walking sticks. 
HEMIPTERA.—Hemi (half), pteron (a wing). Four wings, when 
present; front wings leathery at base, forming an X on back when 
wings are folded. Piercing and sucking mouth parts folding under 
body. Life changes incomplete. Odor sometimes sickening. Stink- 
bugs, squash bugs, plant bugs, chinch bugs, and bedbugs. 
FKIGURD 3.— 
True bug. 
