284 



V. 



ORTHOPTERA. 



Among the Orthoptera* we meet with some of the largest of insects,* 

 and particularly those which are of strange and extraordinary shapes. 

 The best known insects of this order are the Mantes^ Cockroaches, 

 Earwigs,! Locusts, Grasshoppers, Crickets, &c. 



The Orthoptera have the anterior wings long, narrow, half-homy. 

 These are elytra, which serve as cases for their second wings, as is 

 the case with the Coleoptera. But the elytra of the Orthoptera are 

 less solid and less complete than those of the Coleoptera. Moreover, 

 they generally over-lap each other when the insect is at rest, which is 

 another distinctive characteristic. The second wings are membranous, 

 very broad, and veined ; and, when at rest, are folded up like a fan. 

 The mouth is composed of free pieces. The mandibles, the jaws, 

 and the two lips, always well developed, show them to be insects 

 which grind their food. Their voracity, and the rapid way in which 

 they multiply, sometimes make these insects the pest of the country. 

 Above all, they are to be met with in hot countries, where they cause 

 such great damage that all vegetation disappears on their passage. 

 There is not a great variety of species of Orthoptera. They are 

 insects whose metamorphoses are incomplete ; that is, they undergo 

 only trifling changes from the moment when the eggs are hatched to 

 the time when the insect is fully developed. 



When it leaves the egg, the young one resembles its parents ; it 

 differs only in size and in having no wings. After moulting four or 

 five times it has almost reached its full growth, and its wings begin to 

 appear under a sort of membrane. This is the pupa state. A final 

 moulting sets free the wings also, and the insect, now perfect, launches 

 itself into the air with its congeners. 



* From opQ6s, straight, and TrrepSv, wing, on account of the manner in which 

 the under-wings are folded under the upper. — Ed. 



t Made a separate Order, Dermaptera^ by Kirby. — Ed. 



