USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL INSECTS 
37 
Bursting forth on every tree. 
Then the naked woods will stand 
Beautified by Nature’s hand. 
It is springtime in the woods, 
The silent woods. 
Listen to the robin’s note! 
Hear him clear his husky throat! 
Soon his happy mate will come 
From her far-off southern home. 
All her friends and kinsfolk too 
Will return with much ado; 
Then the silent woods will be 
Filled again with melody. 
USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL INSECTS 
HPO MANY people, insects on plants and trees are creatures to be 
A avoided and destroyed when possible. But some are really bene¬ 
ficial and make war on the harmful ones.' 
The little ladybird, or more properly, the lady-beetle, has always 
been a favorite with children. These beetles are often of a brilliant 
red or yellow color, spotted with black, red, white, or yellow. They 
spend the winter in colonies under leaves or in nooks in the tree-trunks, 
etc. One cold autumn day I chanced to pick up a heavy strip of bark. 
Beneath it were perhaps fifty of these small beetles, sheltered from the 
cold. They looked cozy indeed, and of course I quickly replaced their 
shelter. 
In summer time they are a foe to the plant-lice that infest fruit- 
trees. Even the undeveloped beetles, or larvae, are placed right where 
they can help with the good work. 
Among the orange- and lemon-trees these beetles are said to be a 
help in ridding them of their enemies. In fact, in 1886, when an Aus¬ 
tralian lady-bird was introduced into California, it destroyed in one 
year a certain pest. 1 
A very brilliant and showy insect is the lion-beetle. Its body and 
horny wing-covers are bright iridescent green, blue, gold, and copper. 
It hunts over trees in search of caterpillars and is said to listen some¬ 
times at the tip of a corn-ear to find whether there is a worm within. 
