THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



75. 



ORDERS OF INSECTS. 



(Continued from Page 69.) 



SEC i s have been separated into two great 

 •isions from the manner in which they obtain 

 ;ir food in the perfect state. One portion 

 ving jaws or mandibles is called Mandibulata, 

 i other having a tubular tongue or haustellum 

 called Haustellata. Like the arrangement by 

 ; pupa already named, this division is approxi- 

 tely correct, but insects very nearly allied, as in 

 former illustration, are placed in different 

 tions by this arrangement, the Trichoptera 

 ving a haustellum or tongue, the Neurrptera 

 mdibles or jaws. The first order of winged 

 ects on Plate i is Hemiptera or half wings, from 

 3 Greek words [hemi, half; pteron, a wing), so 

 led because some members of the order have 

 : first pair of wings horny at the base, and the 

 ler portion membranaceous. The second pair 

 always membranaceous, and in many genera 

 th pair* are so. This important difference has 

 1 some authors to make two orders, and others 



0 sub-orders, Horaoptera and Heteroptera. 

 Homoptera have four wings generally mem- 



maceous, meeting together over the back when 

 rest, and sloping down like the high pitched 

 o( of a church. Plate i, Fig. ia, is an illustra- 

 n of this sub-order. It is the Green Fly, 

 lother Fly, or Aphis. The figure is consider- 

 ly magnified, the short line above it representing 



1 true size. Small as it is it is one »f our most 

 urious insects, and its mode of reproduction is 

 curious that we will be excused from dwelling 

 it. In spring the insects produced from the 



after passing through the preliminary stages 

 thout much change of appearance, are all 

 nales — though perhaps such an expression is 

 strictly correct ; and they bring forth by a 

 rt of internal budding, rather than by viviparous 

 pduction, living wingless young, like themselves. 

 *iese are said to change their skin four times, 

 fore they too begin to bring forth, which they 

 in eight or ten days. Each produces about one 

 ndred young, so that it is easy to understand 

 w plants and trees in a very short time swarm 

 th these creatures, every one of which has its 

 tie trunk inserted in the plant and is busily 

 eking its juices. Fortunately they have hosts of 

 enfies, but in dry hot seasons they appear to 



have more immunity from their destroyers, for in 

 those years they sometimes multiply to an in- 

 credible extent. After generating as we have said 

 during the summer they produce in the autumn,, 

 winged insects of both sexes, which pair in the 

 ordinary way, deposit their eggs and die. We 

 have spoken of their marvellous increase in dry 

 hot seasons. It so happens that in years of this 

 character we have frequently had a cholera epi- 

 demic, and the winged Aphis have hence been 

 called the Cholera Fly. In the winged state they 

 often swarm in towns. In the year 1848, when 

 the cholera was excessively severe in Newcastle- 

 on-Tyne, a large building that had been newly 

 painted was so covered with the enormous swarm 

 of the winged Aphides that the colour of the paint 

 could not be seen. Of course people who knew 

 no better attributed the cholera to the flies. 



The Froghopper (Aphisphora spumaria) is 

 another well-known insect of this order. Perhaps 

 it is better known in its larval state, when it is 

 generally called the Cuckoo-spit insect, and but 

 few know that the little Froghopper is produced' 

 from the Cuckoo-spit insect. When a larva, the 

 moist exudation is in constant contact with its 

 body and it soon dies without it, when it changes 

 to a pupa it causes part of the covering nearest 

 itself to dry up, and it remains here protected by 

 what is over it, yet dry itself, until ready to assume 

 the winged state. The Cicada is better known 

 in tropical countries, though they are common in 

 the south of Europe. The males have organs for 

 stridulation, of unusual size, and their song as it is 

 called has been famous for ages. The " chirp 

 of our own Grasshopper or Cricket is produced in 

 the same way . 



The scale insects (Coccus) are well known also, 

 though in this country they are not seen much out 

 of our green or hothouses. The male of the 

 Coccus is seldom seen. The female is wingless 

 and appears to be much more abundant. Cochi- 

 neal, the well-known dye, is the dried bodies of 

 Coccus cacti, ox the Coccus of the Cactus, and many 

 other species furnish similar dyes and other sub- 

 stances. 



Now r a word or two as to the differences between 

 the Homoptera and other orders. It has four 

 wings, either all membranaceous as in the Aphis or 

 one pair leathery and the other membranaceous as 

 in the Froghopper, but the first pair are never of two 

 substances, as are the first pair in the Heteroptera. 



