troughs and ponds where their movements attract
attention.

Study the cricket and house-fly and compare the cricket with the
grasshopper.

APHIDES

In September obtain leaves of sweet-pea, apple, rose bush, maple, oak,
turnip, etc., on which the insects are feeding; also provide specimens
of woolly aphides on the bark of apple trees or stems of goldenrod or
alder.

Observe the nature of the injury to the leaves and plants on which these
insects feed.

Do the insects bite the leaves or suck the juices? Give evidence in
support of your answer.

Sprinkle paris-green on the leaves; does this kill the insects? Why does
it not? Spray the insects with a little oil, such as kerosene, or with
water in which the stub of a cigar has been soaked; what is the effect?

Insects that suck juices from inside the leaf escape the poisoning from
solutions in the leaf surfaces; such insects are killed by oils which
enter the breathing pores and cause poisoning.

Search in the garden, orchard, and forest for plants attacked by
aphides. Carefully observe the lady-birds that are frequently found
where there are aphides. Lady-birds (also called lady-bugs), are small,
spotted beetles, broad oval in form, of bright colours, red and black,
or yellow and black, or black and white.

They are of great service to the farmer and gardener because their foods
consists largely of plant-lice (aphides).

Watch the action of ants which are found among the aphides. The ants may
be observed stroking the aphides with their feelers, causing the aphides
to excrete a sweet fluid on which the ant feeds. Aphides are sometimes
called ant-cows.

Direct the attention of the pupils to the difference between the male
and female aphides; the males have wings, but the females are wingless.

TOMATO WORM

THE ADULT

The adult moth may be captured on spring evenings when the lilacs are in
bloom, as it buzzes about among the lilac blossoms sucking their honey.
It is frequently mistaken for the humming-bird when thus engaged. It may
also be observed during the summer evenings laying its eggs on the
leaves of tomato vines.

Observe the worms that hatch from these eggs and note their rapid
growth. Keep the larvae in a box in the school-room and feed them on
tomato leaves. Note their size and colour, the oblique stripes on the
sides, the horn which is used for terrifying assailants, the habit of
remaining rigid for hours--hence the name sphinx moth.

The