TRUE ORTHOPTERA 



3H3 



with a thin membrane stretched across the bottom of each depression. Inside the 

 leg a tracheal vessel widens out between the two tympanic membranes, to form a 

 vesicular expansion, on which are distributed the end cells and rods of a nerve 

 which comes from the first thoracic ganglion. Crickets are found all over the 

 world, but only four species are British. Of these one (Nemobius sylvestris} may 

 be recognized by its small size, being little more than a third of an inch long. It 

 is usually found among the dead leaves in woods, and appears to be restricted in 

 its range to the southern counties. The field cricket (Gryllus campestris} , which 

 sometimes measures an inch in length, is generally of a black color, and lives in dry 

 fields, where it is often heard though seldom seen on account of its retiring habits. 

 The house cricket (G. domesticus) has a reddish brown color, and is somewhat 

 smaller than the field cricket. It has well-developed wings, and the female has a 

 long ovipositor. The mole crickets, of which there is one British species (Gryllotalpa 

 vulgaris), have such a peculiar structure that they are easily distinguished from all 



MOLE CRICKET, WITH EGGS AND 

 (Slightly enlarged.) 



other insects. They have a long, smooth, shiny prothorax; rather short, close fit- 

 ting elytra; and under wings which, when rolled up, look like a tail curving down 

 over the tip of the abdomen. The abdomen itself carries two long flexible tails, 

 which are said to be used like antennae, when the insect runs backward. It is, 

 however, by the extraordinary shape of the fore-legs that these insects may be 

 most easily recognized. These limbs are thicker, but shorter than the hind-legs; 

 they have very short tibiae, each ending below in four strong claws spread out like 

 the fingers of a hand. 



Although named Locustida, this family does not comprise the locusts, 

 i nc i u d es only those grasshoppers in which the antennae are long 

 and tapering, and the tarsi are four jointed; while the female is pro- 

 vided with a long ovipositor. Besides these characteristics, there are 

 some others which help to distinguish the Locustidce from the members of the next 

 family. In the present group the organs of hearing are placed, as in the crickets, 



Long-Horned 



