ORTHOPTEKA. 557 



Fam. Blattidae. The body flat, elongated oval, with a broad shield-like 

 prothorax, long multiarticulate antennae and powerful loeoinotory legs, with 

 spiny tibi<e and five-jointed tarsi. The head is covered by the large pro- 

 thoracic shield and is as a rule without ocelli. External lobe twice as large as 

 the internal. The front wings are large wing-covers which overlap one another, 

 but these, together with the hind wings, may be absent in the female (Hetero- 

 gamia) or in both sexes. They live on solid animal matter and avoid the light 

 in the day, living in dark hiding-places. Many species are distributed over all 

 the world, and in great numbers cause much damage in bakeries and storehouses. 

 The tropical forms are especially large. The females lay their eggs in cases a 

 short time before the hatching of the young. These capsules in Periplaneta 

 or'untalis enclose about forty eggs, arranged in two rows. In this animal 

 the metamorphosis is said to last four years. Periplaneta, orientalis L. , 

 common cockroach, said to have been introduced into Europe from the East 

 (fig. 461, b). P. americana Fabr., Blatta laponica L., B. gerntanica Fabr. 



Tribe 2. Gressoria. With ambulatory legs. 



Fam. Mautidae (Fangheuschrecken). Anterior predatory legs, the jagged 

 tibise of which can be folded against the toothed femora. They prey on other 

 insects, and inhabit warm and hot countries ; onJy the smaller species extend 



FIG. 462 Gryllotalpa vulr/aris (regne animal). 



to South Europe. The females lay their eggs in clumps on plants, and surround 

 them with a tough secretion, which hardens so as to form a capsule. This 

 secretion is produced by the filiform appendages of the oviduct. Mantis 

 religlosa L., praying insect, in South Europe. 



Fam. Phasmidae (Gespenstheuschrecken). The body elongated, as a rule 

 linear, with long ambulatory legs. The tarsi have five joints, and bear a large 

 lobe for attachment between the terminal claws. Wing-covers and wings are 

 often rudimentary or altogether wanting. The anal processes are not jointed. 

 They live in the tropics and feed on leaves. The wingless forms resemble dried 

 twigs, the winged dried leaves. Bacteria calamus Fabr., Surinam. Phasma 

 fasciatum Gray, Brasil. Phyll'ium siccifol'mm L., East Indies. 



Tribe 3. Saltatoria. With jumping legs. 



Fam. Acridiidae (Grasshoppers). With short filiform antennie. The an- 

 terior wings are stiff and only a little broader than the anterior division of 

 the hind wings, which during quiescence are folded up like a fan and com- 

 pletely covered by the front wings. The auditory organs lie on either side on 

 the metathorax. The female has no projecting ovipositor, but has an upper 

 and lower genital valve, each composed of two horny stylets. The males can 

 produce a chirping sound by rubbing the toothed internal edge of the posterior 

 femora against the projecting nervures of the wing-covers. In the female, also, 

 this stridulating apparatus is present, though in a rudimentary form, and not 

 more developed than in the male larvae. The females of many species are able 



