7. Find out whether the cricket chews solid food or sucks liquid
food, and whether it has biting jaws or protrusible lips. See whether
it will attack a toothpick or your finger, and if the crickets
have been confined long, whether there has been any attempt at
cannabalism. Is its natural food animal or vegetable matter?
8. How do crickets chirp?
9. What work do they do in nature?
10. How does a baby cricket develop?
THE LIVING GRASSHOPPER OR LOCUST
_Materials._
Individual specimens in wide-mouth bottles or jars, and other
specimens in cages, with turf or foliage for food and concealment.
Simple lenses.
_Observations._
Notice the form and size of your specimen, its color, the number of
its legs and of its feelers. Find the eyes; the two large eyes, a
tiny one between the two feelers, and near the inner edge of each
large eye, another tiny one. With a lens notice the markings on the
large eyes. Find the mouth, and note its lips and finger-like
feelers. Draw out an outer wing, and then carefully draw out the
delicate under wing, allowing them both to fold into place again.
Under the wings find the circular or crescent-shaped membranes, the
eardrums. Watch the grasshopper's body expand and contract in
breathing, and find the small breathing holes along each side the
body. Compare its rate of breathing with your own.
_Questions._
1. In what surroundings and how does the grasshopper's color protect
it? What color markings has it which might serve for other
grasshoppers to see as signals? Explain how this signaling is done.
2. Explain how the legs are placed so as to act as springs in jumping
and alighting.
3. What advantages in having the wings attached on the upper side and
the legs on the under side of the body?
4. Explain how the small wings are protective, and how the large ones
are protected.
5. Why is it better for the grasshopper to have its mouth on the
under side of its head instead of in front?
6. The large eyes are supposed to be far-sighted, the small ones
near-sighted. State how the large eyes have the more advantageous
position, and around how much of a circle they can see.
7. Describe how the grasshopper breathes.
THE LIVING BUTTERFLY OR MOTH
_Materials._
Individual specimens in large jars or cages, and other specimens in
cages with foliage; simple lenses and a needle or pin.
_Observations._
Butterflies may generally be distinguished from moths by their habit
of holding their wings together above them when at rest, by the
feelers which are knobbed at the end, and by the rather slender
abdomen. Moths generally either fold their wings or hold them
outstretched, their feelers are not knobbed, and their bodies are
rather bulky.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account