250 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT. 





in Surinam, and other parts of America, as well as 

 in Africa and Asia. In some of them the tegmina 

 and wings are of great amplitude, and the powers of 

 flight are probably considerable ; they are likewise 

 ornamented with rich colours, frequently rendering 

 them very ornamental objects. The similitude, o 

 these parts, to the leaves of trees, formerly mentionec 

 as signalising the .Orthopterous order, is also conspi- 

 cuous in the present tribe, particularly in that section 

 of it, which, in allusion to this very circumstance 

 Kirby has proposed to name Pterophylla, or leaf- 

 wings. 



Grasshoppers deposit their eggs in the earth, an 

 operation which they accomplish by means of the 

 lengthened ovipositor, which forms one of their dis- 

 tinctive features. This instrument is slightly modifiec 

 in form in the different genera. In Acrida, it con,, 

 sists of six pieces or valves, two upper and four lower 

 each of which is grooved internally, and these are 

 moved backwards and forwards alternately, when 

 employed in boring. The eggs are rather long, : 

 narrowed at both ends ; they are laid in considerable 

 quantities at a time, and extruded together along with 

 a kind of mucous matter, which soon dries and be- 

 comes a slender membranous envelope. The nymph 

 or pupa does not differ from the larva, except in 

 bearing on the back a pair of rudimentary wings, 

 enclosed in a kind of sheath. The larvse and pupa 

 are, of course, incapable of flight, but the mature in- 

 sect springs into the air with great facility, and ex- 

 panding its capacious wings, can sustain itself for a 



