UIHistories Project: A History of the University of Illinois by Kalev Leetaru
N A V I G A T I O N D I G I T A L L I B R A R Y
Bookmark and Share



Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1871 [PAGE 180]

Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1871
This is a reduced-resolution page image for fast online browsing.


Jump to Page:
< Previous Page [Displaying Page 180 of 372] Next Page >
[VIEW ALL PAGE THUMBNAILS]




EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:



172 ignorance or his perversity, inflict irremediable injury upon his own interests, were he not saved, in spite of himself, by the all-pervading and uncontrollable instrumentality of the parasitic Hymenoptera. The Hymenopterous order is also remarkable for the social habits and wonderful instincts of some of its species, which is strikingly illustrated by the well known histories of the ants and the bees. The next order of insects which we are to consider is that of the Lepidoptera. This term is derived from u^v a scale, and xTepa wings. These insects are so called because their wings are covered and ornamented with minute scales, overlapping each other like shingles, appearing to the naked eye like the finest dust, but giving to the wings a peculiarly soft and beautiful surface. This is the order of the butterflies and moths. It is an order of great extent, being about equal in the number of genera and species to the Hymenoptera, and is equally remarkable for the beauty and attractiveness of the winged insects, and the voracity and destructiveness of their larvse, commonly known by the name of caterpillars. These, with one or two rare and abnormal exceptions, are all vegetable feeders, subsisting mostly upon the leaves of plants, but also in some instances upon the fruit. It contains the tent-caterpillar, the army-worm, the codling moth, the canker-worm, the clothes-moth, and many other destructive species too numerous to mention. Next to the Coleoptera it contains by far the most destructive species, both to the products of the farmer and the horticulturist, and it is questionable whether it does not even exceed that order. The seventh and last order of insects, in this enumeration, is that of the Diptera, a word derived from the Greek dts, double, or of two parte, and -zrepa, wings, so called because these are the only insects, with a^ few anomalous exceptions, (Coccidse and a part of the Ephemeridse) which have but two wings. All other insects have either four wings, or two wings and two cases, which represent the other pair. This order contains the gnats and mosquitoes, the horse-flies, the bot-flies, ,and the house-flies, and though it is inferior to some of the other orders in the number of its families and genera, it is by no means certain that it does not surpass them all in the number of its individuals. It contains comparatively few species injurious to the agriculturist, but a portion of these are of the most destructive character, the most notorious of which are the Hessian-fly and the wheat-midge. It also contains, as we have before stated, the extensive family of the parasitic Tachinidsi.