ORTHOPTERA. 



557 



The Orthoptcra are insects* which undergo a semicomplete metamorphosis, all the changes 

 being reducible to the increase and developement of wing-covers and wings, which begin to 

 appear under a rudimentary form in the pupa. This pupa and the larva resemble the perfect 

 insect in other respects, walking and feeding in the same manner. 



The mouth of the Orthoptcra is composed of a labrum, two mandibles, two maxillae, and 

 four palpi ; those of the iuaxilkc have always five joints; the labial palpi, as in the Coleoptera, 

 have only three. The mandibles are always very strong and horny ; the tonguelet is con- 

 stantly divided into two or four plates. The form of the antennae varies less than in the Cole- 

 optera, but they are generally composed of a much greater number of joints. Many, in 

 addition to the composite eyes, have two or three ocelli. The under-side of the basal joints 

 of the tarsi is often fleshy, or membranous; the basal joint in the Grasshoppers with short 

 antennae, presents three lobes, or divisions, on the under-side. [In these insects, however, the 

 tarsi consist but of three joints ; these lobes, therefore, indicate the other two joints, which 

 are evidently soldered with the first.] Many females are furnished with a real borer, formed 

 of two plates, for depositing their eggs, which are often covered by a common envelope. 

 The posterior extremity of the body is generally armed with appendages. 



The intestines of the larvae resemble those of the perfect insects. 



All the known Orthoptera are, without exception, terrestrial, both in their perfect and two 

 previous states. Some are carnivorous, or omnivorous ; but the greater numbers feed upon 

 living plants. The species which inhabit our climate have but a single generation in a year, 

 the eggs being deposited towards the end of the summer. This is also the period of their 

 last transformation. 



"We divide the Orthoptera into two great families, [Cursoria and Saltatoria], a mode of dis- 

 tribution confirmed by their anatomy ; the insects of the first having only tubular tracheae, 

 whilst those of the second have vesicular tracheae. [We are indebted to M. Serville for a 

 revision of the generic division of this order, published in the Annates des Sciences Nuturelles. 

 Dr. Burmeister, in 1838, also worked out the order, adding many new genera, in his Hand- 

 buch der Entomologie. In 1839, M. Serville, unacquainted with Burmeister's work, published 

 his Histoire NatureUe des Insectes Orthopteres, in which he introduced many new genera, as 

 well as some established by Burmeister, but with other names ; which of course must rank as 

 synonymes. Dr. Burmeister has just published, in the third number of Gennar's Zeitschrift 

 der Entomologie, a revision of these two works, with a view of pointing out the synonvines.] 



In the first family all the legs are alike, and solely fitted for runuing ; in the second, the 

 thighs of the hind legs are much larger than those of the other feet, which gives them the 

 power of leaping ; the males, moreover, make a sharp noise, or a kind of stridulation. These 

 are the leaping, or musical Orthoptera. 



THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE ORTHOPTERA — 



The Cursoria, — 

 lias the hind logs solely fitted, like the others, for running. They have generally the wing-covers and 

 wings resting horizontally on the body; the females do not possess a horny ovipositor. These form 

 three genera, [Forficula, Blatta, and Mantis]. The first, that of 



The Earwigs (Forfcula, Linn.), — 

 Has three joints to the tarsi, the wings folded like a fan, and shutting up transversely beneath oiu>- 

 taceous wing-covers, which are very short, and meet in a straight suture ; the bod) i> linear, with two 

 large sr.aly moveable appendages, which form a forceps at the posterior extremit] of the body. The 

 head is exposed; the antennae are filiform, inserted in front of the eyes, and composed of from 

 twelve to thirty joints, in ditl'ennt species. The galea is slender, elongated, and nearly cy l in dri cal 



• This order, the Lepidopttflm and Stfepriptera, nnd the eptfioiil Wmpod Iniecte, do in >r aquatic ipciici. 



