In most cases the parent insect deposits small eggs which hatch later
into the young insects. In some cases, as with the blow-flies, the
maggot may hatch from the egg while yet in the parent's body, when the
active larva is born alive. Whether the egg hatches before or after it
is deposited, the young insect continues to develop in one of three
ways. It may resemble the parent and simply grow as does a kitten, or it
may look somewhat like its parent though smaller and without wings, as
the young grasshopper, or it may bear no resemblance whatever to the
parent, as the caterpillar which feeds and grows and finally spins a
cocoon in which it passes to the resting chrysalis stage and later
emerges with wings. The development of insects is therefore extremely
complicated.
[Illustration: The chinch bug showing development with incomplete
metamorphosis; a, egg; b, first nymph; c, second nymph; d, third nymph;
e, fourth nymph; f, adult winged bug; g, chinch bugs extracting sap from
corn plant. To control this pest burn over all winter harboring places
and use chemical or dust barriers following wheat harvest.]
_The Principal Orders_
In order to study a group of animals which includes so many thousand
different kinds it is necessary to divide them into a number of sharply
defined divisions or orders. All animal life is naturally grouped into
such divisions and subdivisions. Among the insects we at once detect
seven large, sharply defined divisions or orders, and ten or more
smaller ones. Of these we have first, the two-winged true flies; second,
the four-winged butterflies and moths; third, the hard-backed beetles;
fourth, the stinging four-winged wasps and bees; fifth, the variously
formed sucking insects or true bugs, as chinch bugs and bed-bugs; sixth,
the rapid-flying four-winged snake doctors or dragon-flies and, seventh,
the hopping forms, the grasshoppers. Besides these we have the various
smaller orders of water-loving insects, fleas, etc. The seven groups
mentioned above include the majority of our common forms and in the
studies to follow we will include only representatives from these
orders.
[Illustration: The Hessian fly showing development with complete
metamorphosis; a, egg; b, larva or maggot; c, flax-seed stage; d, pupa;
e, adult winged fly; f, wheat stubble with flax-seed stages near base
taken after harvest. To control this pest, plow under stubble after
harvest; keep down all volunteer wheat and sow wheat after fly-free date
in the fall.]
_Their Habits_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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