68 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



differences that distinguish the various orders. A 

 special plate will be given, showing a typical 

 specimen of each order, which we expect will 

 help you to understand better the differences in 

 structure, as well as in general appearances, so 

 that you will be able to decide for yourselves, 

 afterwards, to which order any insect you may fall 

 in with belongs . 



We have already told you that insects grow only 

 in the larval state, when they are all exceedingly 

 voracious creatures. In the next state only those 

 with Isomorphous pupse ■ — pupae resembling the 

 perfect insects — take any food. In the perfect 

 state most of them take food, but not all ; and, as 

 in other animals which do not need so much 

 nourishment when arrived at their full growth, so 

 compared with their previous habits, the most 

 predacious of them now eat but little. The 

 character of the food, too, is changed. We can 

 continue all our lives to subsist on the same diet. 

 With insects it is often different, from a most 

 important cause. In the Butterfly or Moth, for 

 instance, whose larvse were furnished with power- 

 ful jaws fitted to devour "Every leaf that tempted 

 with its greenness, or by its fragrance," has 

 undergone a change of structure. The biting jaws 

 of the larva are gone, and in place of them there 

 is a Ions; tubular organ, up which fluid can be 

 drawn ; and the food of the Butterfly, as we all 

 know, is honey, drawn from the nectary of a 

 flower. The same obtains with Dipterra — ■ two 

 winged flies — and with others, while some, such 

 as the Dragon Fly, Beetle, and others, retain their 

 jaws and the power of devouring their food. 



Insects in their perfect state do not, as we hare 

 said, increase in size, nor have they the power so 

 common in the lower grades of animal life, of 

 reproducing a lost organ. Tear a wing off a fly, 

 as cruel children sometimes do, and the fly can 

 never replace it, any more than we could grow a 

 new limb. While in this respect they resemble 

 the superior races, they are wanting in another 

 point. Birds reproduce their feathers, mammals 

 their hair or wool. Insects do not reproduce any 

 portion of their external covering. The scales on 

 a Butterfly's wing, the hairs on its body, or the 

 other coverings of other insects, are most perfect 

 when they leave the chrysalis, and as the insect 

 grows older, so does it deteriorate in appearance, 

 until, 



"Bare, bald, and tawdry as a fingered moth," 



we may perhaps not be able to tell the species. 



The chief object of the perfect insect is to per- 

 petuate its species, to provide for the continuance 

 | of its race, and the various means by which this 

 is accomplished is one of the most interesting 

 studies in the economy of insect life. Some species 

 leave their ova, to chance almost, and the tiny 

 larva, even when newly hatched, has only itself 

 to depend upon. Others bestow the utmost care 

 upon their progeny. Tend them, feed them, even 

 putting the food into their mouths, carry them 

 about, and treat them as kindly and well as does 

 the most loving mother her children. While, 

 however, this comparison may seem a fair one, 

 the truth is that the Bee or Ant, which thus tend 

 the young of their race, have no maternal ties in 

 connection with it. The eggs are laid by another, 

 and the little worker has not only the nursing to 

 do, but also all the labor of the colony, providing 

 food, building, or whatever else may be needed. 

 Though much observation has been given to the 

 hive Bee, and more perhaps is known of its habits 

 and economy than of any other species, we would 

 recommend our readers to give a little attention 

 to the Ant, as one of the most convenient for 

 occasional notice. You can scarcely turn a stone 

 over, in suitable places, but you will disturb a 

 colony of the Red or Black Ant, and what a com- 

 motion is at once excited ! You will see, besides 

 the ants which are running in every direction, a 

 number of whitish bodies scattered about, like 

 small grains of rice. These are quickly seized by 

 the powerful jaws of the ants, and carried off 

 down the various tunnels leading to and from the 

 nest. It used to be believed that these were seeds 

 stored up for winter use, and many extraordinary 

 tales are told in connection with this supposed 

 store of grain, — how they would bring them out 

 in the sun to dry — how they rubbed off the shoot 

 when it began to sprout, and so on, — but it is now 

 well known that these whitish seed-like bodies are 

 but the young ants, helpless babes, incapable of 

 locomotion, or even of feeding themselves, and 

 carefully tended and nurtured by their nurses. 

 Many a lesson has been taught with the ant as a 

 text, and no observer need be wanting in occupa 

 tion while he can find ants' nests. Sir J. Lubbock 

 who has given much attention to these insects 

 has kept colonies of them under close and constant 

 observation and made wonderful discoveries about 

 them, some of which may be related to you 



