ILLUSTRATIONS 



OF 



BRITISH ENTOMOLOGY. 



Order II.— DE R M A P TE R A, De Geer. 



Wings very broad, ovate-triangular, with radiating nervures, folded longitu- 

 dinally and transversely; stigma large, coriaceous, projecting (during 

 repose) beyond the melytra. which are short, subquadrate, with a straight 

 suture (as in the Coleoptera), and truncate at the apex. Body linear, nine- 

 jointed in the males, seven-jointed in the females, and furnished at the apex 

 with horizontally moveable appendages, more or less curved in the males, 

 and straight in the females. Metamorphosis semicomplete. 

 Although probably this order is not of equal value with the 

 Coleoptera or Orthoptera, nevertheless I shall still consider it as 

 distinct, as placed in the commencement of the first volume ; with 

 the former it agrees in having coriaceous elytra, destitute of nervures, 

 and united by a straight suture ; while it differs therefrom in its 

 trophi, in which it agrees with the Orthoptera, but from them its 

 elytra remove it. The order at present consists of a single family, 

 whence its relative value becomes questionable : it was estabhshed 

 by Kirby, in the Linnean Transactions, as the suggestion of Leach, 

 but De Geer had previously noticed it, and his name is employed. 



Family I.— FORFICULID^ mihi. 



AntenncE filiform, the articulations distinct, variable in number, the basal one 

 most robust, the second smallest, the remainder more or less inconstant in 

 length ; palpi filiform, with the terminal joint oblong-cylindric ; labrum 

 rounded, entire ; mandibles curved, bifid at the apex ; head scarcely broader 

 than the thorax, flat, porrected ; eyes slightly prominent ; thorax somewhat 

 quadrate, flat, especially on the sides; body slightly convex above and 

 below, and armed at the tip with forceps ; legs remote, nearly equidistant 

 and simple, formed for running; torsi triarticulate, the intermediate joint 

 very short, and sometimes bilobed. 



Mandibulata, Vol. VI., 30th April, 1835. a 2 



