438 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



nomenclature of the different groups of which this section is composed. 

 Linnaeus introduced five divisions into his genus Gryllus : l.Acrida, 

 with short ensiform antennae (G. nasutus, &c.) ; '2. Bulla, with short 

 fihform antennae, and the thorax carinated (G. bipunctatus, &c.) ; 3. 

 Acheta, with two anal setae (the various species known under the English 

 name of crickets* ; G. domesticus, &'C.); 4. Tettigo7iia, with an en- 

 siform ovipositor, and long setaceous antennae (G. viridissimus, &c.); 

 and, B.Locusta, with short filiform antennae^ and destitute of exserted 

 ovipositor (G. niigratorius, &c.) Notwithstanding the evident pro- 

 priety of regarding the last-named insect, which is the migratory locust, 

 as entitled to retain the name of Locusta, it is singular that not one 

 of the Linnaean names has been retained by continental writers in the 

 Linnaean sense. The Linnaean Acridae and Bullae naturally belong to 

 the same section as the migratory locust ; and thus there are three 

 families formed, corresponding with the third, fourth, and fifth Lin- 

 naean divisions. Of the names of these three divisions, Acheta and 

 Locusta ought unquestionably to be retained as the base of the family 

 names of two of them ; that of Tettigonia has, however, been applied 

 to some of the Homoptera, and all subsequent writers reject it from 

 the Orthoptera. In order, therefore, that the name Gryllus should 

 not be lest, it will be advisable to apply it restrictedly to the Linnaean 

 Tettigonite.f We thus obtain the three family names Achetidae, 

 Gryllidae, and Locustidae ; in a sense, however, different from that in 

 which they are ordinarily employed by the French entomologists. In 

 order to clear up the confusion, Mr. Kirby published a memoir in the 

 Zoological Journal, in which, however, he proposed to retain the Lin- 

 naean name of Acrida for our grasshoppers with long antennae ; a 

 decidedly objectionable step, as the name, if employed at all, ought 

 certainly to supersede that of Truxalis, which is now universally em- 

 ployed instead of the Linnaean name Acrida, which is consequently a 

 synonym, and ought to be dropped. Moreover, as both the names 

 Acrida and Acrydium are derived from the Greek uKplq, which is 

 precisely synonymous with the Latin name Locusta, it is evidently 

 perpetuating confusion by retaining either of them. The Latin name 

 is admirably expressive of the ravages of the migratory species, being 

 evidently derived from the words locus and ustus ; and thus we figura- 



* The " criquets " of the French entomologists are the all-devastating locusts, 

 f Fabricius employed it for the locusts, instead of naming them Locusta, which 

 name he gave to the Grylli Tettigoniae of Linnaeus. 



