goograpliical vjuiatiim. caused iiic Id roiliicc lliciii ti> \;iiictics or races. 

 Where u well kiiowii siiecie-; ranges over a large area. Ilic ililTereiil eiivinm- 

 iiients, due l<t altitude, variation in mean annual tenii)erature. jitnios- 

 I»Iieric conditions, difference in toiM)graitli.v, drainage and soils, varied food 

 plants and uian.v other causes, arc sure to bring about certain changes in its 

 external structure. If oidy tlie extremes of these variants be at hand, 

 they are often so ditTerent in apiiearance as to cause them to be considered 

 races or even diH^'erent species. However, where a birge series from all 

 parts of the range ave pre.sent. intermediates are almost smn; to be found 

 and tliere is little use and often much resulting confusion in giving oi- recog- 

 nizing a specilic name for e.ich slightly variable form. 



The Orthoptera of the territory covered I have iilaccd in eiglil t'aniilies 

 of which 1 will make brief nienticm. comiiaring the niendieis of each as 

 represented in the faunas of Indiana and Florida. 



i-AMiLY I. — FoRFKULiOAK, — The Earwigs. Xan-ow. Hat Orthopterons, with 

 either short outer wings or none at all, their abdomen ending in a pair of 

 forceps-like appendages. They are mostly subtropical in distribution and 

 occur beneath bark or in crevices in houses and ships. Twelve species are 

 known from eastern North America, nine occurring in Florida, three in 

 Indiana, one common to both states and one not found in either. The name 

 earwig was given them by the iK>asants of Europe, who believe that they 

 often enter the ears of humans and injure the hearing, such belief being 

 of course nonsensical. They often do nnich damage by eating ripe fruit, 

 tender shoots and corollas of flowers, etc. 



F.\MiLY II. — Blattidae. — The Cockroaches. Examples of these are familiar 

 to all. Their distribution is mainly tropical and of many species cosmopol- 

 itan. In the houses of the poorer classes of the tropical countries they form 

 the most annoying and disgusting of insect pests. They are omnivorous in 

 choice of food, but live chiefly upon animal and vegetable refuse. In some 

 parts of Brazil they are said to eat the e.velashes of the children, biting them 

 off irregularly, often quite close to the lid, and as the children have very 

 long black eye-lashes, their apix'a ranee thus defaced is very grotesque. 

 Where abundant in a house, cockroaches leave a fetid, nauseous odor, well 

 known as the "roachy odor" which is persistent and defiles both food and 

 dishes. One writer has thus quaintly written of them and other house- 

 dwelling insects in the screenless hotels of India : 



••On every .lisb the ho iiig beetle falls. 



The cockroach plays, or caterpillar crawls; 



A thousand shapes of variegated hues 



Parade the table or inspect the stews. 



Whe)i hideous insects every plate defile 



The laugh how empty and how forced the smile." 



\\liile hundreds of species of cockroaches occur in the tropics, oidy 4.'{ 

 and two varieties are residents of the United States. Of these r;o si)ecies 

 and both varieties are known east of the Mississippi, 24 species and one va- 



