power, and are, therefore, almost the only family amongst the Orthoptera 

 which are at all beneficial to the farmer as destroying other injurious insects. 

 The Phasmidae, spectres, or walking sticks, (Diapheromera, PI. X, Fig. 1,) 

 resemble twigs, in form and color, and feed on the foliage of various shrubs 

 ami trees, whilst the Blattariae, or cockroaches, (Stylopyga, PL VII, Fig. 12; 

 Ectobia, PI. I, Figs. 4, 5,) are almost omnivorous, feeding indiscriminately on 

 both vegetable and animal substances, and are extremely destructive in houses 

 and on shipboard. The Forficulariae, or earwigs, (Forficula, PL X, Fig. 2,) 

 are not numerous enough in this country to do much injury, but in Europe 

 are said to injure flowers and ripe fruit, and occasionally to feed on small in- 

 sects. The Thripidae certainly do much injury to the tender foliage of the 

 grape vine, &c, and are very destructive to greenhouse plants. Thrips 

 cerealeum, (PL XII, Figs. 9, 10,) injures the wheat crop in Europe by suck- 

 ing the sap of the grain or seed and cause it to shrivel up and wither. Mr. 

 Walsh, however, considered the true Thrips in the light of a beneficial 

 insect, stating that it destroyed the lavvae of the destructive wheat midge 

 Cecidomyia (Diplosis) tritici and other injurious insects. 



Some of the wingless orthoptera (Podura, the springtail, PL VI, Fig. 17,) 

 are stated, by Mr. Curtis, to feed upon the pulp of leaves, at the same time 

 poisoning the sap and thus injuring the plants. The Mallophaga (or bird 

 lice, PL XII, Fig. 1,) Nirmus argulus and dog louse, Trichodectes latus, 

 PL VI, Fig. 8.) feed upon the feathers and hairs of the birds or animals they 

 infest, and do not injure them by sucking the blood. By thus studying the 

 food of the various Orthopterous insects, we find that all of them are more 

 or less injurious to the farmer, with the sole exception of the Mantis, or 

 rear-horse, as it is commonly called in Maryland and Virginia, which lives 

 altogether on animal food, and is, therefore, beneficial as destroying injurious 

 insects. 



The family of Orthoptera is stated, by Dr.. Packard, to contain "about 

 5,000 species" and constitutes a very important article of food for certain 

 animals, birds and fishes. Some of the grasshoppers are even eaten by our 

 western Indians, when partially roasted and coarsely pulverized between two 

 stones. A specimen of food used by the Indians now in the Museum of tin 

 Department of Agriculture, in "Washington, sent from Camp Harney, Or' gon, 

 by Asst. Surgeon Moffatt, TJ. S. A., which contains a great number 

 of the heads and femora of some great wingless grasshopper or cricket, 

 (apparently Anabrus simplex, PL IX, Fig. 1,) which is so abundant in some 

 parts of the west. Several of the Orthoptera are also subject to be destroyed 

 by both external and internal parasites. A coleopterous insect, Ehipiphorus, 

 (Symbius) blattarum, probably the same as Rhipidius, mentioned by Packard, 

 is parasitic in the bodies of certain cockroaches. Several species of Ichneu- 

 mon-flies, Evania loevigata, Oliv, and a species of Pteromalus are said to 

 destroy the eggs of cockroaches. A large species of Asilus, or robber-fly, 

 according to the Rev. C. Thomas, also destroys numbers of grasshopper^ by 

 sucking out their juices. A species of Tachina, a two-winged fly, very similar 



