SriJORDER II. CURSORIA. 59 



Suborder II. CURSORIA. 



This suborder, as characterized in the key, p. 41, contains 

 only one family, the Blattida 1 , which is represented in all parts 

 of the earth. The name Cursoria, derived from the Latin and 

 meaning "runner," was first used by Latreille (1817) to comprise 

 all the nou-saltatorial Orthoptera, or the earwigs, cockroaches, 

 mantids and walking-sticks. Westwood in 183!) restricted the 

 name Cursoria to the Blattidre or cockroaches, giving to the other 

 groups the names Euplexoptera (Forficulida?), Ambulatoria 

 (PhasmidaM and Kaptoria (Mantida?). Fieber, in 1853, united 

 the last two in the one suborder Gressoria. The characters of the , 

 suborder Cursoria are those of its single family as given below. 



Family II. BLATTID.E. 



THE COCKROACHES. 



"On every dish the booming beetle falls, 



The cockroach plays, or caterpillar crawls; 



A thousand shapes of variegated hues 



Parade the table or inspect the stews. 



When hideous insects every plate defile, 



The laugh how empty and how forced the smile." 



The members of the family Blattidre, commonly known as cock- 

 roaches, may be known from the other families of non-saltatorial 

 Orthoptera by their depressed, oval form; by their nearly hori- 

 zontal head which, when at rest, is bent under and almost con- 

 cealed by the broad pronotum, so that the mouth projects back 

 between the bases of the first pair of legs; by their slender, de- 

 pressed legs of almost equal length and size, and by the absence 

 of either ovipositor or forcipate appendages at the end of the 

 abdomen. 



They have the antenna? setaceous, rarely swollen and plumose 

 near base, inserted just below the middle of the eyes, composed 

 of very many exceedingly short segments and often longer than 

 the body; mandibles strong, toothed; maxilla 1 with 5- and labium 

 with 3-jointed palpi; eyes usually large, reniform, finely facetted; 

 ocelli or simple eyes usually present in the fully winged forms, 

 located near the inner borders of the antenual sockets, absent or 

 greatly reduced in size when the wings are abbreviated or want- 

 ing, and then often represented by small, pale ocellar spots; pro- 

 notum generally more or less elliptical or suborbicular, with 

 rounded angles, and often projecting over the head ; tegmina mem- 



