There are many kinds of insects all round us. Some have pretty colors. Others have funny shapes. Some are as big as your hand; others are as small as a grain of sugar.

Perhaps you have seen a shining beetle running along the ground. This may be a tiger beetle which catches other insects. It is green or blue or striped in color.

Perhaps you have held a lady –bird beetle in your hand. It may be orange or red with black spots. It is the farmer’s friend, for it eats insects which feed on plants.

The fire fly is one of the most wonderful beetles. He is plain in color. You hardly see him in the day time for the he hides under barks and stones like a twig or like a green leaf. You may have looked at a mantis or waking stick insect without knowing it. They are hard to see because they look like parts of a plant.

Caterpillars eat green leaves. Some like grass. They may be long and green or short and fat. Some are fuzzy, like little furry animals.

Some insects are very helpful to us. The honey you eat is made by bees. Many wasps catch files and other harmful insects.

You have seen a dragon-fly. It looks like a little airplane. It is one of our most helpful insects, for it likes to feed on flies and mosquitoes.

Many insects can sing or chirp. Some of them even chirp under water or beneath the ground. They do not sign with their mouths as we do. Brown grasshoppers make a noise by rubbing their legs against their wings. Black crickets rub their wings together. Mosquitoes make a humming sound as they fly. Wherever you go, there are insects. You may find flies and moths on the windows of your house. Dog fleas are insects. Ants can be found on laws and sidewalks and also inside your house. How many kinds of insects can you find near where you live?

The ant the grasshopper

Out in the fields, on the warm sunny days of summer, a grasshopper spent all his time singing and dancing.

The summer when there were plenty of leaves on the trees for him to eat, he had no thought for the cruel winter.

His friend, the ant, worked hard all the summer. She thought of the cold days of winter. With the snow on the ground she would find nothing. So she put by, a store of food for the winter.

When the winter came, the ground was covered with snow, the grasshopper could find no food to eat.

He went to his friends, the ant and begged for a little food saying, `May good friend, I am cold and hungry. I have not had a blade of grass or even a tiny little worm for many a day. I feel I shall die. Lend me a few grains from your leader. I will pay you pack when spring comes.’

But the ant said, `That is all very well my dear grasshopper. Tell me, what did you do all summer?’

`Oh! `I danced in the sun and sang all summer’, Replied the grasshopper.’

`Very well,’ said the ant, `now you can dance the winter away.’

The ant, you see, works very hard. She cannot give away her store of food. The poor grasshopper starved all winter and nearly died.

`Let us hope that he will learn a lesson,’ said the Queen –ant when she was told this.