AN ECONOMIC CONSIDEEATION OF OETHOPTEEA DI- 

 RECTLY AFF^ECTING MAN.^ 



By A. N. Caudeix, 

 Division of Insects, U. S. National Museum. 



Orthoptera directly concerning man, either beneficially or in- 

 juriously, affect liim either physically or psychicall}'', that is his 

 physical person, externally or internally, or his spiritual or emo- 

 tional nature. Orthoptera may, to the uninitiated, appear scarcely 

 worth mentioning as directly affecting man injuriously but litera- 

 ture contains a number of incidents of sufficient interest to merit 

 brief reference. Forms injuriously affecting man's person exter- 

 nally is a subject dealing mostly with injuries inflicted by biting. In 

 dealing with this and allied subjects it is not easy to separate popular 

 superstitions from actualities and when the evidence rests upon the 

 observations of laymen it is often more or less faulty. Actual inci- 

 dents are evidently sometimes exaggerated by recognized observers 

 and more popular and less scrupulous writers often go still further. 

 Inexperienced or ignorant people misconstrue facts and thus our 

 literature teems with questionable statements. This was especially 

 true in times far past but continues true, unfortunately, to a consider- 

 able extent even j-et. 



A superstition long prevailed in Maryland that if a black beetle, 

 that is a cockroach, enters your room, or flies against you, severe 

 illness, or perhaps even death, follows.^ As a recent example of 

 evident error in observation I may mention a letter from a physician 

 in New Mexico relating how a boy was bitten on the toe by a Steno- 

 pelnuitus and, though the toe was immediately incised by a doctor, 

 severe results followed, the boy being in a critical condition for 

 some days and nearly losing his life. While it is very doubtful if 

 the insect was the real cause of the boy's ailment, it is undoubtedly 

 true that at least quite severe mechanical injury and pain may be 

 caused by the bite of orthopterous insects. I have myself been bitten 

 in the palm of the hand by a native Orchelimum., an insect scarcely 

 exceeding an inch in length, so severely as to almost draw blood, and 



^ Reprinted from Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, vol. 18, 

 No. 2, pp. 84-92, 1916. 



'Cowan's Curious Facts, p. 82 (1865). 



507 



