[From the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 

 Vol. XI., February 5, 1868.] 



ON THE RANK OF THE FAMILIES OF ORTHOPTERA. 



Mr. S. H. Scudder stated that he had purposed to Avatch 

 tlie transformation of our grasshoppers, during the coming 

 summer, to determine tlie relative rank of the famiUes of 

 Ortho]^tera. All entomologists, German as well as French, 

 English and American, have placed the Forficulina (unless 

 distinguished as u separate order) at the head of the group, 

 the Blattina second, the Phasmidae and Mantidje third, the 

 Gryllodea, Locustina and Acrydii last. Burmeister and De 

 Haan have changed the order of the latter families, but the 

 oeneral arrangement remains the same. 



Graber has recently published* some observations which bear di- 

 rectly upon the point, but he has drawn no deductions from them. 

 His studies on the transformations of these insects lead him to divide 

 them into two groups, the saltatorial and non-saltatorial ortlioptera. 



In the latter group, the first indication of wings in the young in- 

 sect is a slight expansion of the outer hinder borders of" the dorsum of 

 the meso- and meta-notum; this grows larger with succeeding moults, 

 and, just before the final moult, becomes an extensive lappet, which 

 shows no sign of disrujjtion from the segments; the veins of tlie 

 fntiu'e wing are already mapped out, but they are only horizontal 

 dorsal extensions of the thoracic segments. In the former group the 

 wings arise as little lappet-like vertical extensions of the pleura of the 

 meso- and meta-notum, and are directed slightly backward; in a second 

 or third period they become separated by a suture from the segments 

 of which they are but prolongations, and in the succeeding stages the 

 wings are bent over, separated clearly from their segments as proper 

 a})i)cndages, and assume a dorsal, horizontal or roof-like position in- 

 stead of their former lateral and vertical one. Tliey have left the 

 embryonic position retained by the other group through life, and have 

 attained a higher one. The saltatorial ortlioptera must then be 

 j)laced above the other groups of ortlioptera, contrary to the usage of 

 all [)revious writers. 



*>4iir Entwickelungsgeschichte uud KeproductionsfiUUgkeit der Orthopteren. 

 Sit/,ung.sb. dor Iv. Akad. der Wissenscliaften zu Wien; Matli.-iiaturw. Classe; 

 Band LV., 3i)7. 



