These insects are often called May-Flies, because they usually come in May. But they have another name, which means the “child of an hour.” This name is given them because they seldom live longer than one day, and often only for an hour or two. In the egg, larva, and pupa they live about two years; but, once born with wings, they soon die.
And how do they spend that short life? They do not eat, for they have no mouths. As they are not hungry, they do not hunt. They spend their whole time in flying. Their flight is a sort of dance in the air; they rise and fall, and spin about.
Great numbers of them come out together, spin about, and drop their eggs in the water. But soon they flutter down, dead, among the grasses. That is the story of the pretty May-Fly. I have been on a large island on a day when May-Flies had come out: the air was full of their shining silver shapes—they lit on people’s clothes, and seemed to cover them with a gauze veil.
Would you not like to seek out in their homes, and then read and study about, the very many strange and wonderful insects that are in the world?
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
I. THE ANT.
1. Describe an insect.
2. How are the wings of hook-winged insects fastened together in flight?
3. Describe an ant.
4. Describe queen ants and worker ants.