4 BRITISH ORTHOPTEKA. 



flic hack (i n<l nun nl ly protecting the delicate hind-wings, 

 irliich are folded fanwise and in certain cases transversely 

 also; elijh'n <nnl /rings often rudimentary or absent; 

 gruirth a continuous process, abrupt metamorphoses being 

 tihxt'iif, the young (nymphs) 'much resembling their parents, 

 > wept for the wing*, which, gradually up/tear, wrapped 

 in sn/itll cases, and increase in size at each new ecdysis ; 

 no real jnij>nl instar. 



Although there are very distinct sections of the 



/ 



Orthoptera, yet the Order as a whole is fairly well 

 defined, and few systematists seem to wish to readjust 

 the boundaries. The only doubtful point in reality 

 appears to be whether or not the earwigs should be 

 separated from the rest as a distinct Order. In the 

 present case it was not thought expedient to segregate 

 a group which appears to have sufficient points of 

 connection with the cockroaches to justify their being 

 placed near them. Further, if the earwigs are treated 

 as an Order there seems to be no sufficient reason 

 why the cockroaches and some other divisions should 



not be treated in a similar way, and this would be 



i/ 



inconvenient, if right. Handlirsch* has done so, it is 

 true, in a work in which he deals with fossil insects as 

 well as recent ones ; but it can be justified only if 

 the same amount of subdivision is undertaken in 

 certain other Orders- -the Hymenoptera for instance. 

 Leach not only separated the earwigs, as Uermaptera, 

 hut also constituted the cockroaches a distinct Order, as 

 Dictyoptera. On the other hand some entomologists 



-Grassi, Oudemans, Finot, Minert, for example- 

 would add the Thysanura, or part of them, to the 

 Orthoptera, while others, would include the Odonata, 

 if not other insects also. 



At the same time, within the Order as usually 

 defined, it is necessary to distinguish clearly the groups 

 which exist in Nature, and for these Brunner's 

 nomenclature has been adopted, making, however 



: A. Handlirsch, ' Die fossilen Insekten und die Phylogenie der rezenten 

 Formen/ Leipzig, 1908. 



