The vampire bat.
Here is a picture of the vampire bat, a native of South America, that lives by sucking the blood of animals when they are asleep.
Locust’s wing.
Nothing is more delicate than the wings of insects. They are like gauze; but they have a frame-work that makes them quite firm, just as leaves are firm from the ribs that are in them. Here is a drawing of the wing of a locust. But you can get no idea of the beauty of insects’ wings from such drawings. You must examine the wings themselves. Even the wing of a common fly is very beautiful, so delicate is its structure.
Wing of the katydid.
The wing of the katydid, as it is called, is peculiarly beautiful. Here it is. You see that it is very delicate. Its color is a light green. You see that rather thick three-cornered ridge at that part of the wing which joins the body. There is a similar ridge on the wing of the other side. In the space within this ridge there is a thin but strong membrane or skin, so that it makes a kind of drum-head. It is the rubbing together of these two drum-heads on the wings that makes the noise. It is a queer sound. There is no music in it, but the katydids seem to enjoy making it.
How the katydid makes its noise.