ORDER ORTHOPTERA. 



Including the Grasshoppers, Locusts, Crickets, Cockroaches, 

 Earwigs, and their Allies. 



The Orthoptera include all those forms of insects which have 

 four wings, the anterior pair being of a leathery nature. They 

 are mandibulate ; that is, their mouths are formed for biting, and 

 they undergo an imperfect metamorphosis. 



The insects comprised in this order are extremely numerous 

 and destructive in the tropical parts of the world (Kirby gives 

 their number as about 7,000), but they are only represented in 

 the British Isles by about sixty species, few of which are really 

 abundant. They include the cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, 

 locusts, earwigs, etc. 



All these insects may be divided into three sub-divisions or 

 tribes — namely, the Runners or Cursoria, the Leapers or Saltatoria, 

 and the Earwigs or Eiiplexopiera. 



The following table will show at a glance the outhnes of the 

 proposed arrangement : — 



Tribe I., Cursoria. — Hind wings with reins radiating from the 

 base. Hind legs formed for running. 



Tribe II., Saltatoria — Hind wings with veins radiating from 

 base. Hind legs formed for leaping. 



Tribe III., Etiplexoptera. — Hind wings with veins radiating 

 from the apex of a horny piece occupying the base of 

 the anterior margin. 



The Euplexoptera^ or Earwigs, are regarded by some authors as 

 a separate order. They are thus treated by Westwood in his 

 " Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects," but the 



