Uncle Milton Bug Jug - Manual (Page 8)

Fascinating bugs to discover
Grasshoppers are long, thin and green. They can’t run. Instead, they use their huge back legs for jumping. The
males “sing” by rubbing their wings and legs together. Their ears are not on their heads, but on their front legs.
Crickets are “musical” too. In Japan, people keep them in cages, like birds, so they can hear them sing. The males often get
into fights. Crickets barely know how to fly, so they either have to fight or escape their enemies by hiding. The field
cricket sings all day and all night. As the weather gets colder, its singing gets slower. The mole cricket lives
underground. It uses its front legs as digging tools. It g oes so far underground that most people never see it. Camel crickets
have no wings. They have arched bodies that make them look like camels. Usually they are not found in the open,
like the field cricket, but rather under old logs or in caves. The katydid has a loud voice, especially on hot
summer nights. Its song sounds a lot like “Katie-did-Katie-didn’t.” Katydids grow large (up to 3 inches) with very
long antennae, and are often bright green.
Treehoppers are strange-shaped insects that eat the sap of trees. Usually, they are the same color as the trees. Some of
them are shaped like thorns, so they aren’t noticed by enemies. They give out a sweet liquid called
honeydew which is collected and eaten by ants.
It’s not hard to see a walking stick. What’s hard is to realize that you’re actually looking at one! Walking Sticks look
just like a part of a tree — a twig or a leaf — and that’s how they hide from enemies. They have no wings, are very
slender and can be as long as 12 inches.
The mantis is just like a walking stick except its front legs are longer and stronger so it can grab other insects for food. It looks a lot
like it’s praying.
Fireflies are a kind of beetle with lights that blink on and off to attract a mate. In some species the females have no wings
and their bodies are long, like worms — so they’re called glow worms. Fireflies make their rear ends light up by using
something called bioluminescence (BI-O-LU-MI-NES-ENTS). They actually make a chemical in their bodies that glows.
Dragonflies and damselflies are very long (up to 5 inches) with two identical pairs of long, narrow wings. You can see
through the wings. Dragonflies are often seen near water. When they are resting, they keep their wings straight out,
like airplane wings. Damselflies have weaker wings and don’t fly as fast. When resting, they hold their
wings back or straight up. Dragonflies and damselflies don’t use their long legs for walking, but for
holding other insects they’re trying to eat. Because they eat other insects, they have sharp
mandibles, or jaws, instead of the sucking kind like houseflies have.