Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 43.djvu/544

528 bees, wasps, and ants, the flies being called Diptera, i. e., two-winged, and the bees, wasps, and ants, Hymenoptera, or membrane-wing. It will probably be said by some that ants have no wings; but this is only the case with what are called neuters or workers, the males and females being provided with wings. The total number of different kinds of insects that are known at present is over two hundred thousand, of which beetles alone number one hundred and twenty thousand—this being about twice as many as all the other known animals together. It is estimated that the actual number of different kinds of insects in the world is over one million.

The Orthoptera, to which grasshoppers and roaches belong, present many oddities; foremost among them, in the United



States, is the mantis or "praying mantis." It is very common throughout the South. It will be seen that the fore legs are armed