ORTHOPTERA 



bushes and shrubs. The eggs are laid along the edge of a leaf or 

 along a stem, slightly shingled, as shown in Fig. 105, being 



quite different 

 from those of 

 any similar in- 

 sects and thus 

 easily recogniz- 

 able. 



In this fam- 

 ily there are 

 two groups of 

 win Hess forms: 



FIG. 1 06. The western cricket (Anabms simplex], adult 

 female. (Natural size) 



the cricketlike 

 grasshoppers, 



(After Gillette) 



which are to 

 be found under 

 stones and rub- 

 bish, particularly in woodlands, and the shield-backed grasshoppers, 

 which look very much like crickets. One of them, known as the 

 western cricket (Anabrtis), which is about one and one half inches 

 long, often becomes so 

 abundant in the northwest- 

 ern states as to be \ cry de- 

 structive to crops. 



The crickets (Gryllidae). 

 The common black or 

 brownish crickets, with 

 their familiar chirp, are well 

 known to every one. The 

 wings are laid flat on the 

 back when at rest, instead 

 of meeting like a roof as 

 in the grasshoppers, the an- 

 tennae are long, and the 

 ovipositor is long, but cylindrical in section, being lance-shaped 

 rather than sword-shaped as in the grasshoppers. Our common 

 crickets usually feed upon vegetation, and very rarely become inju- 

 rious, though some are predacious and at times are uncompromising 



FIG. 107. The black cricket, male and female 

 (After J. B. Smith) 



