64 A BOOK OF INSECTS 



Many of the species are wingless throughout life, while 

 some possess the unusual power of reproducing a lost 

 limb. Phasmids are vegetable feeders, and although 

 sluggish in their habits are very voracious. In Fiji and 

 the Friendly Islands, a species called Lopaphus cocophagus 

 injures the cocoa-nut palms by eating the foliage, and, 

 according to Dr. Sharp, " one writer has gone so far as 

 to attribute the occurrence of cannibal habits amongst the 

 inhabitants of some of these islands to the want of food 

 caused by the ravages of this insect." Like mantids, 

 phasmids are for the most part tropical in their distribu- 

 tion. There are four or five European species, only one of 

 which ranges as far northward as Central France. 



The second group of Orthoptera is characterised by 

 the great length and power of the hind-legs, which are 

 formed for leaping. Its members are also remarkable 

 for possessing very perfect auditory structures, or " ears " ; 

 while the males can usually produce chirping sounds. 



The locusts and grasshoppers (Locustidce) are distin- 

 guished from other leaping Orthoptera by their relatively 

 short antennas and three-jointed tarsi. An " ear " is found 

 on each side of the abdomen at its base, while a chirping 

 sound is produced by scraping a file-like ridge which 

 exists on the inner side of the femur of the hind-leg 

 against a prominent vein on the wing. So far as is known, 

 however, only the small species — the "grasshoppers" — 

 possess this musical apparatus. All the Locustidce are 

 vegetable feeders, and some of them (the true locusts) 

 migrate in enormous swarms and work serious injury to 

 crops in warm countries. The family is represented in all 

 parts of the world, a number of small species being in- 

 digenous to Britain. 



The long-horned or tree grasshoppers (Phasgonuridce) 

 may be distinguished from the Locustidce by their very 



