300 THE INSECT WORLD. 



the warts to dry up and disappear. It is for this reason they have 

 given them the name of Wart-bit or Wart-biter." 



The Phaneroptera and the Copiphores are exotic Locusts. The 

 Ephippigerce are small species whose thorax, which is very convex, 

 resembles a saddle. 



One often meets in the environs of Paris the Vine Ephippiger 

 {Ephippigera vitium), which is greenish, with four brown stripes on its 

 head. In this species the wing cases, or elytra, are also obsolete, 

 and the wings are reduced to mere arched scales, whose friction 

 produces a stridulation or screeching noise. The females are pro- 

 vided with a similar apparatus, so that they perform duets.* 



The genus Gryllacris resembles the crickets. It contains the 

 Anostostomata of New Holland, which are said to be destitute of 

 wings, even in the perfect state. 



We arrive now at the redoubtable tribe of Acridium, or Locust, 

 whose fearful ravages are so well known. 



These are, among the Orthoptera, tlie best adapted for jumping. 

 The thigh and the leg, folded together when at rest, are stretched out 

 suddenly under the action of very powerful muscles. The body, rest- 

 ing then on the tarsi and on the flexible spines of the legs, is shot into 

 the air to a great height. They fly very well, but the power of walk- 

 ing and running is denied to them, as it is also to the other Saltatoria. 

 The females have no ovipositor. This peculiarity, and the formation 

 of their antennae, which are very short, distinguish the locusts from 

 the grasshoppers. 



The males, as we have already said, make a shrill stridulation by 

 rubbing their thighs over their elytra. There is never more than one 

 thigh in motion at a time ; the insect using the right and the left by 

 turns. The sound is made stronger by a sort of drum filled with air, 

 and covered with a very thin skin, which is found on each side of the 

 body, at the base of the abdomen. The locust's song is less mono- 

 tonous than that of the grasshopper. It is capable of much variation ; 

 it is a noise just like that of a rattle, but with sounds which vary very 

 much, according to the species. 



They move about by day, frequent dry places, and are very 

 fond of sitting on the grass in the sun. Certain species, which 

 inhabit the warm regions of the south, move their legs with scarcely 

 any noise ; it being only perceptible to a very fine ear. 



* The species of genus .Sa^T/ sometimes reach extraordinary dimensions. Thus, 

 in 1863, there was found in Syria, after a shower of ordinary locusts, a specimen of 

 the Saj^a which was three inches and a quarter long. It was presented to the 

 Museum of Natural History of Paris, by M. I.,. Delair. r 



