30 INJUKIOI S \ND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



ORTHOPTERA (Order) 



STRAIGHT WINGED INSECTS 



COCKROACHES, EARWIGS, WALKING-STICKS, PRAYING MANTIDS, CRICKETS, 



KATYDIDS AND GRASSHOPPERS 



All of the members of this order, with the exception of the praying 

 mantids and some of the earwigs and cockroaches, are destructive 

 to vegetation and most of them are serious pests to cultivated crops. 

 Though most of them possess four wings, a few genera and species have 

 none at all. The fore wings are called tegmina and differ from those 

 of most insects, in that they are leathery, being a means of protection 

 for the delicate thin hind wings, which are used for flying. All the 

 members have strong and well developed mouth-parts for biting and 

 chewing. The metamorphosis or change from the young to the adult is 

 gradual and scarcely noticeable. When born these insects always re- 

 semble the adult, with the exception that they have no wings and the 

 sexual organs are undeveloped. 



To follow out a systematic arrangement of this order, the families 

 are arranged as follows: 



1. Blattidce 



2. Forficulidce 1 * 



3. Phasmidce 



4. Mantidce 



5. Gryllidce 



6. Locustidce 



7. Acridiidce 



While the representatives of practically all of these families are of 

 great interest and often of economic value, those of only the last three 

 are deemed of sufficient importance to be included in a work of this 

 character. These will be considered in the order as given above. 



GRYLLID^ (Family) 



CRICKETS 



The members of this family, like the locustids, have long filiform 

 antennae, but the tarsi are three-jointed and the ovipositor, when 

 strongly developed, is spear-shaped. Many of the species are wingless. 

 When the wings are present they are deflexed on the outer edge and 

 fold closely to the sides and back. It is also a musical family. Most of 

 the species are injurious to vegetation. 



The common field crickets are most abundant and familiar. They 

 seldom do enough damage to deserve special treatment here. The tree- 

 crickets are almost all arboreal in habits and do considerable damage to 

 economic plants by making incisions in the smaller branches and stems 

 in which the eggs are deposited. 



'"The ForficuUdw are placed in a separate order, Euplexoptera, by some entomolo- 

 gists. 



