250 



AN INTRODUCTION TO ENTOMOLOGY 



guests, and destroy them when they can; but the crickets are very 

 agile. These are the smallest of the true Orthoptera. 



This subfamily includes a single genus, Myrmecophila, of which 

 five species have been described from the United States. Only one 

 species has been found in the East; this is Myrmecophila pergdndei. 

 In this species the length of the body is 3-5 mm. 



Subfamily MOGOPLISTIN^ 



The Wingless Bush-Crickets 



These crickets are found chiefly on bushes or among rubbish under 

 bushes; some are found beneath debris in sandy places. They are 

 small; those found in the 

 United States measure from 

 5 mm. to 13 mm. in length of 

 body. They are either wing- 

 less or furnished in the male 

 sex with short tegmina, in 

 which the stridulating organs 

 are well developed. The body 

 is covered with translucent, 

 easily abraded scales. 



Most of the species are 

 tropical or subtropical in dis- 

 tribution; our species are 

 found chiefly in the South and 

 Southwest; but the range of 

 one of them extends north to 

 Long Island. Only four spe- 

 cies have been described from 

 the East and one of these is 

 restricted to Florida. A few others are known from the western part 

 of our coiintry. A monograph of the North American species was 

 published by Rehn and Hebard ('12). 



Figure 272 represents the male of Cryptoptilum trigonipdlpum, a 

 wingless species found from Virginia southward; and Figure 273, the 

 male of Holosphyrum boredle, found in the Southwest. 



Fig. 272. — Cryptopti- 

 lum trigonipalpum. 

 {From Rehn and 

 Hebard.) 



Fig. 273. — Holosphy- 

 rum boreale. (From 

 Rehn and He- 

 bard.) 



Subfamily GRYLLOTALPIN^ 



The Mole-Crickets 



The mole-crickets differ greatly in appearance from the more 

 typical crickets, the form of the body and of the fore legs being 

 adapted to burrowing in the ground. The front tibia?, especially, 

 are fitted for digging; they are greatly broadened and shaped some- 



