Classification
  1. By means of illustrations from your studies of insects show how classification is based upon likeness of structure.
  2. In the same manner show how differences in structure affect classification.
  3. Show how variation in the wings and mouth parts is used to separate insects into orders.
  4. What are the principles of classification?

11. REVIEW AND LIBRARY EXERCISE ON INSECTS

General Topics
  1. General characteristics of insects.
  2. Principal 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? Illustrate 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. Classify these adaptations and illustrate with examples.
  15. The principal insect pests of the orchard and their work.
  16. The principal insect pests of the garden and the work of each.
  17. The principal insect pests of shade trees and their characteristics.
  18. The principal 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 principal 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."
  1. The fight against the orange scale of California.
  2. History of the introduction and spread of the San José scale bug and the efforts to find a natural enemy. How people fight the pest.
  3. Aphids.
  4. Relations of ants and aphids.
  5. Phylloxera and its work.
  6. The methods of fighting the chinch bug.
  7. Scale bugs.
  8. Cochineal bug and the lacs.