OUTirOPTEUA r.r-ATTID.'E. 



Fig. 51. 



'7^==^^. 



order Dictyoptera of Leach ; the species of which are too well known 

 under the ordinary name of cockroaches or black-beetles, although 

 perfectly distinct from the order of beetles (Coleoptera), being dis- 

 tinguished by the structure of their wings, metamorphoses, &c. The 

 body is broadly ovate and depressed {^Jig. 51. l. Blatta germanica). 

 The fore wings (tegmina) are coriaceous, veined, with the inner margin 

 of one folding over the same margin of the other when at rest* ; the 

 posterior wings are longitudinally folded, except the anterior third part 

 of the wing, which lies flat; the prothorax is large and shield-shaped, 

 often completely concealing the head {Jig. 51. 4. head of B. orien- 

 talis); the antennae are very long, setaceous, and multi-articulate, 

 from 50 to 150 joints (j^^. 51. 2. basal, 51. 3. terminal joints of 

 antennae) ; the mandibles are short, but strong, horny, and toothed 

 at the tip, and on the inner surface (^Jig. 51. 6.) ; the upper lip is en- 

 tire (^jig. 51.5.) ; the maxillary palpi are elongated, with the last joint 

 somewhat hatchet-shaped {^fig. 51. 7.) ; the labium is bifid, with two 

 more slender internal lobes (^fig. 51. 8.); the eyes are kidney-shaped 



MacLeay. App. King's Voyage. 



Nov. Mem. Soc. Roy. Danemarck, t. ii. Nov. Act. Nat. Curios, t. ii. 

 JBrullt. Exped. Scient. de Moree. 

 Dryander. Cat. Libr. Banks, sub Blatta. 



Drury, Palisot Beauvois, De Gcci; Kirhy (Century), Pcrty (Delect. An. art. Bras. ), 

 Hwnmdl (Obs. Ent. ). 



* The covered part is coloured less deeply than the rest of the wiiig-cover. 

 Sometimes, as in Blatta (Corydia) Petiverana, the left wing-cover is ornamented 

 with a coloured spot, wliicli is not found in the opposite wing-cover ; thus appa- 

 rently destroying; the symmetry of the insect's appearance; but when the wing-covers 

 are closed, this spot is found to occujiy the centre of the back. 



