126 Cockroaches, Locusts, Grasshoppers, and Crickets 



and katydids, all with long thread-like antenna?; and Gryllidae, the crickets. 

 The three silent and walking or running families are the Blattidae, cock- 

 roaches; Mantidae, praying-horses and soothsayers; and Phasmidae, walk- 

 ing-sticks or twig-insects. These families can be distinguished by the follow- 

 ing table: 



KEY TO FAMILIES OF ORTHOPTERA. 



Non-leaping and mute; hind femora closely resembling those of the other legs and 

 scarcely stouter or longer than the middle femora; tarsi 5 -segmented; ovipositor 

 concealed. 



Body oval, depressed; head nearly horizontal and nearly or quite concealed by 



the flattish shield-like pronotum; quickly running. . . .(Cockroaches.) BLATTID^E. 



Body elongate, generally narrow; head free, often with constricted neck; pronotum 



elongate, never transverse; slowly walking. 



Fore legs spined and fitted and held for grasping; antennae usually shorter than 

 body; pronotum usually longer than any other body segment; anal cerci 



jointed (Praying Mantes.) MANTID^:. 



Fore legs not fitted for grasping; antennae usually longer than body; pronotum 



short (Leaf-insects and Walking-sticks.) PHASMID^E. 



Leaping and usually capable of stridulation; hind femora stouter or longer, or both, 

 than the other femora; the hind legs enlarged, for leaping; tarsi 4- or 3-segmented; 

 head vertical; ovipositor usually visible. 



Antennae much shorter than the body (with few exceptions) ; ocelli three ; tarsi 3-seg- 

 mented; auditory organs, when present, situated on basal abdominal segment; 

 ovipositor composed of two pairs of short, strong, slightly curving pieces. 



(Locusts.) ACRIDIID.E. 



Antennas much longer than the body, delicately tapering; tarsi 3- or 4-segmented; 

 auditory organs usually near the base of the fore tibiae; ovipositor usually pro- 

 longed into a compressed blade, or needle, its parts compact. 



Tarsi 4-segmented; ocelli usually absent; ovipositor usually exserted and forming 

 a strongly compressed, usually curving, blade with tip not expanded. 



(The long-horned grasshoppers.) LOCUSTID^E. 



Tarsi 3-segmented; ocelli variable; ovipositor usually exserted and forming a 

 nearly cylindrical straight needle, the tip somewhat expanded. 



(Crickets.) GRYLLID^E. 



Mrs. Smith takes it amiss when you ask permission to collect "roaches" 

 in her house, and will prove to you any day the conspicuous absence of these 

 unwelcome guests in the scrubbed and spotless pantry and kitchen. But 

 with a candle go stocking-footed at night into the same kitchen and you 

 will not unlikely find "good hunting." Although but few of the thousand 

 different kinds of cockroaches known in the world are to be found in the 

 United States, these few, and particularly three or four imported foreigners 

 among them, are very abundant, and, after dark, very much in evidence in 

 their favorite habitat. Their chosen abiding-place is in kitchens, pantries, 

 laundries, restaurants, bakeshops, etc., where the atmosphere is warm 



