THE ORTHOPTERA. 34 1 



represented in the engraving on the opposite page. The body of 

 the Empiisa is decorated with a mixture of most deHcate grey, 

 green, white, and violet tints, and the wings of the adults are of 

 a clear sea-green colour, the borders and the nervures being lilac. 



The PJiasviiacd are, however, the most curious of all insects. 

 They approach the MantidcB in general appearance, but are dis- 

 tinguished by their fore legs being of the ordinary form, and 

 suited, like the rest, for walking. Unfortunately their incomplete 

 metamorphosis has not been studied carefully. 



All the Orthoptera which we have hitherto noticed may be 

 called walkers or runners ; but those which we are now about to 

 describe are termed jumpers or leapers. 



The grasshoppers are true jumpers, and have their hind legs 

 so formed that they can lift themselves from the ground and jump 

 considerable distances ; the females have a long and stout ovi- 

 positor, which has a sabre shape, and is attached to the hind part 

 of the body. Nearly all the "jumpers" have well-developed 

 wings ; the front ones, or the elytra, are long, and the posterior 

 are of considerable size ; but there are some species whose wings 

 are always in a rudimentary state. In every instance the first 

 pair of wings of the male insects are so formed that they can 

 produce musical sounds. At the base of the elytra there is a 

 greater or less space, which is covered by a thin, transparent, 

 and very tense membrane, and it is situated between some twisted 

 and enlarged nervures. When the insects are anxious for a 

 little female society at eventide, they elevate their wings, and rub 

 them one upon the other, and produce a sound which is rendered 

 intense, sharp, and chirping by the vibration of the membrane. 

 The grasshoppers fly easily, in spite of their heavy bodies ; but 

 they walk with difficulty, in consequence of the disproportion 

 which exists between their front and hind legs ; so they usually 

 move from place to place by a series of jumps. The jumping is 

 produced by the action of the large muscles of the thighs actino- 

 upon the long legs and feet. These insects use their ovipositor for 

 the purpose of burying their eggs in the soil ; and it is interest- 

 ing to observe that several species which live almost in the same 

 manner have different modes of egg-laying, and their ovipositors 

 are therefore variously fashioned. The species of the grasshopper 



