The Insect Folk Part 19

Just lie down in the gra.s.s perfectly still, and soon the insects that live in the gra.s.s will begin to appear.

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What they will do you must find out for yourselves; but you may be sure it will be worth finding out,--the funny, clever, wise little people!--ah! they are good to watch.

They will soon go on chirping and shrilling and rasping and kricking and tapping and whizzing and whirring and buzzing all about you; and if you listen sharp, perhaps you can understand some of the things they say.

And this I am sure of; if you really watch and listen, you can learn to know the different insects by their sounds, just as you can know the birds by their songs. You can even tell whether you are listening to the meadow gra.s.shopper, or the locust.

If I thought you were not tired of hearing how gra.s.shoppers are made, I should tell you some more.

John says he would like to know some more.

Well, then, I will tell you about their rings.

You can see the rings of the gra.s.shopper people very plainly in their abdomens.

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Here is a picture of a gra.s.shopper. It is not all drawn. The legs and wings are not shown, and the abdomen is drawn by itself so you can see it easily.

There are ten rings, you see.

The rings are covered with a hard, h.o.r.n.y substance.

This h.o.r.n.y substance is what makes the body of the insect so stiff. It would be soft but for the chitin, as the h.o.r.n.y substance is called.

It is better for the insect to have a chitinous covering.

If you had no bones, you would be glad to have your skin hardened with chitin.

You see how it is, you wear your skeleton inside. Your skeleton is of bones; it is an inside skeleton.

The gra.s.shoppers and all the insects wear their skeleton outside. It is made of chitin; it is an outside skeleton.

Insects have no bones.

They do not need any. They are kept stiff by the chitin.

Each ring in the insect's abdomen is made of four pieces, the back piece, the side pieces, and the under piece. You can see the back piece and one side piece in the picture, but you cannot see the other side piece nor the under piece without turning the insect over.

The rings are made in pieces so the insect can move.

Suppose each ring were made of one stiff piece like a finger ring. What a poor stiff, old gra.s.shopper it would be! The rings are called segments.

Segment number one has only a back piece, you see.

All the other segments have four pieces.

Segments two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight are alike.

Segments nine and ten are modified to form the ovipositor.

The segments are fastened together by skin. The skin is soft so the segments can move back and forth.

The segments can be crowded close together to shorten the abdomen.

The segments can be separated from each other to lengthen the abdomen.

There is no chitin in the skin between the segments. It is soft so the segments can move.

Do you know how a telescope is made?

The abdomen of the insect can lengthen and shorten somewhat like a telescope.

It is easy to see the rings in the abdomen of the locust or gra.s.shopper.

Now, what about the thorax?

That, you tell me, has no rings.

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Look again, and look carefully.

You will have to see another picture.

This is a picture of the head and thorax of the gra.s.shopper. It is drawn to show the separate parts of the thorax.

Yes, John, the thorax has three segments. They are grown so close together you would not suspect it until you looked very close.

The front legs are fastened to the first segment.

What is fastened to the middle segment?

Yes, May, the middle pair of legs and the wing covers.

Mollie says the long hind legs and the flying wings are fastened to the third or hind segment.

Oh, you funny little folks! you are all made up of rings.

Yes, indeed, little Nell, the segments of the thorax are made of chitin; they are very stiff.

Ned thinks the segments of the legs are made of chitin too.

Their outside sh.e.l.l certainly is.

The whole outer sh.e.l.l of the insect is made of the h.o.r.n.y chitin.