A Guide for the Study of Animals Part 12

11. REVIEW AND LIBRARY EXERCISE ON INSECTS

General Topics

1. General characteristics of insects.

2. Princ.i.p.al orders of insects with characteristics and examples of each order.

3. Respiration and air sacs of insects. Use of air sacs in flight.

4. The heart and blood of insects. How the function of the blood differs from that of other animals, as man.

5. Special senses of insects: their character, location, and efficiency.

6. Sound-making organs of insects.

7. Power of communication among insects, as among ants, for example.

8. Organs for depositing eggs, ovipositors. How they vary.

9. Homes of insects. Evidences of architecture in some of the homes.

10. How some plants make homes for insects. Galls and gall insects.

11. In what various ways do insects survive the winter? Ill.u.s.trate with examples.

12. Community life among insects. Types of communities.

13. Pollination of flowers by insects. Why insects do this work and how the flowers compel them to do it in the right manner. Value to the plants. Types of insects useful for this purpose.

14. Adaptations for protection against enemies. Cla.s.sify these adaptations and ill.u.s.trate with examples.

15. The princ.i.p.al insect pests of the orchard and their work.

16. The princ.i.p.al insect pests of the garden and the work of each.

17. The princ.i.p.al insect pests of shade trees and their characteristics.

18. The princ.i.p.al insect pests of the household and methods of extermination.

19. The work of birds in helping to keep the number of harmful insects down.

20. A spraying table showing what poisons are used, when and for what plants and insects.

21. The princ.i.p.al beneficial insects and the ways in which they are beneficial.

Special Topics

Much of the information called for by the topics below may be obtained from United States and state government bulletins. Most of these may be obtained free from the Department of Agriculture and from various state agricultural colleges, while others may be obtained by purchase at a nominal price.

_Orthoptera._

1. Locust migrations and their cause.

2. The locust plagues of the "great plains."

3. Crickets and their "songs."

_Hemiptera._

4. The fight against the orange scale of California.

5. History of the introduction and spread of the San Jose scale bug and the efforts to find a natural enemy. How people fight the pest.

6. Aphids.

7. Relations of ants and aphids.

8. Phylloxera and its work.

9. The methods of fighting the chinch bug.

10. Scale bugs.

11. Cochineal bug and the lacs.

_Coleoptera._

12. The carrion beetle and its peculiar habits.

13. Fireflies.

14. Egyptian scarabs.

15. The curculio and methods of fighting it.

16. The weevils and their work.

17. History of the Colorado potato beetle.

18. Lady-bird beetles, their habits and use in exterminating harmful pests.

_Diptera._