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The Great Bug Family (So the long threads are antenn)

So the long threads are antennæ after all.

Now it has raised its head, which we easily see is quite round, with tiny eyes, and the antennæ are growing out from the front of it.

What is it? A walking stick? A mantis?

Why! why! There it goes, sailing off in the air with a queer little fluttering motion of its whole body.

It has wings!

John has caught it and brought it back.

Now let us see those wings, you strange little creature. You will have to look close, but there they are, narrow, short, such tiny wings! How do you suppose it flies with them?

You seem queerer and queerer the more we look at you, little what-shall-we-call-you.

But we know you are not a walking stick because our walking sticks have no wings.

The truth is you are a - bug!

Yes, this little threadlike creature belongs to the same order as the big flat giant water bug.

It grasps its victim, in its fore feet like the mantis, but instead of biting its prey it sucks out the juices. You would hardly expect such a delicate creature to catch and kill other insects, yet such is the case.

No, I do not think it will pierce your finger with its beak. I have often handled them, and have never been stung by one. We often see them walking about in the grass and along paths.