Scudder.] 228 [December 23, 



tion of the alcoholic specimen of Nautilus pompilius, 

 brought home by Mr. Bickmore, that the chambers contained 

 air. 



Section of Entomology. December 23, 1868. 

 Mr. E. Burgess in the chair. Twelve members present. 



Mr. S. H. Scudder made the following remarks upon the 

 arrangement of the families of Orthoptera. 



About a year ago I attempted to show by the aid of Graber's re- 

 searches, that the saltatorial Orthoptera rank higher than the non- 

 saltatorial, because in the latter the primitive position of the wings 

 is retained through life, while, in the former, both pairs of wings 

 essentially change their position during the different stages of growth. 

 I now propose, by a closer examination of the relative ranks of 

 these families and of their mutual affinities, to determine the serial 

 order in which they should be treated. 



Let us first observe the views which various authors have held. 



Linne, in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae, published in 

 1760, placed the Orthoptera and .beetles in the same division (Cole- 

 optera), dividing the former into three genera, Forficula, Blatta and 

 Gryllus ; the latter genus he subdivided into the following sections : 

 Mantis, Acrida (TruxaUdse), Bulla (Tetricides), Acheta (Gryllldes), 

 Tettigonia (Locustarlse) and Locusta (Acrydil). 



In 1764, in his Museiun Ulricas Reglnas, he retained Forficula un- 

 der Coleoptera, and removed the two other genera to Hemiptera, 

 dividing them as before. 



Two years later, in the twelfth edition of his Systema Nature, he 

 retained nearly the same arrangement, but elevated the section 

 Mantis to the rank of a genus, placing it between Blatta and Gryllus, 

 and omitted Acrida altogether, merging the species formerly referred 

 to that group In the section Locusta. 



Geoffroy, in his HIstoire abregee des Insectes, published In 1764, 

 divided the Coleoptera into three " Articles," In the second of which 

 he placed Forficula, In company with Staphylinus, etc., and in the 

 third the other orthopteran families, together with Thrlps. He 

 divided the third into five " orders," viz. : Blatta, Thrips, Gryllus 

 (Gryllides), Acrydiiun (Acrydil), Locusta (Locustariae) and Mantis. 



