"We had a lesson on insects today, Norah," said Willie, "and it was all new to us, and very wonderful. Fred has gone to find one or two insects now, so that we may have a talk about them. Here he comes; let us get ready for a chat.""Look!" said Fred, as they sat down at the table, "I"ve got a beautiful butterfly, a beetle, and a fine big blue- bottle fly. They will do well.
First of all, let us see why these little creatures are calledinsects.
"If you take any one of them in your hand, you will see that it appears to be deeply cut across in two places, so as to be almost separated into three distinct parts. This is why we call it an insect. The word insect means "cut into." The three parts are the head, the chest, and the belly.
"Look at it again carefully," he continued, "and you will see that the chest and belly parts are made up of hard horny rings. Teacher calls them ringed segments. A segment means apart. These segments are not complete rings, as they donot pass entirely round the body.
