244 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT. 



Grasshoppers, and Locusts. These differ from all 

 the preceding tribes, in having the hinder legs length- 

 ened and much thickened, in order to fit them for 

 leaping. Besides this marked peculiarity in structure, 

 there are others no less striking in their manners and 

 economy. The males are musical, or, in other words, 

 have the power of producing a stridulent note, ap- 

 parently for the purpose of attracting the attention of 

 ihe females. With very few exceptions they are 

 herbivorous insects, and deposit their eggs in the 

 earth. In general they frequent plants, but a few 

 live in holes which they excavate in the soil. 



FAM. ACHETIDJE. 



Antennae very long and slender, composed of 

 numerous articulations ; head generally large, thick, 

 and somewhat rounded ; tegmina lying nearly flatly 

 along the back, and for the most part rather short ; 

 wings longer than the tegmina, and projecting behind 

 the body : tarsi generally three-jointed. 



The family of the crickets presents several varia- 

 tions in the possession or non-possession of ocelli. 

 In Tridactylus there are three distinct ocelli ; in the 

 mole cricket only two are visible, the third being ap- 

 parently obsolete, or, as Latreille says, " suboblitera- 

 tus." In Myrmecophilus they are entirely wanting, 

 and in the true crickets they are said by Latreille to 

 be " subobsolete ;" but this last statement needs modi- 

 fication. In the domestic cricket no trace of them 

 can be detected ; while in the new species figured 

 a pair of these organs are very distinct, as they are 



