202 



ORTHOPTERA 



CHAP. 



Saltatoria are much more intimately allied, and should, taken 

 together, probably have only the same taxonomic value as any one 

 of the other five groups. 



Owing partly to the inherent difficulties of the subject, and 

 partly to the fragmentary manner in which it has been treated 

 by systematists, it has been impossible till recently to form any 

 clear idea of the classification of Orthoptera. During the last 

 twenty years Henri cle Saussure and Brunner von Wattenwyl 

 have greatly elucidated this subject. The latter of these two 

 distinguished naturalists has recently published ^ a revision of the 

 system of Orthoptera, which will be of great assistance to those 

 who may wish to study these Insects. We therefore reproduce 

 from it the characters of the tribes, placing the portion relating 

 to each family at the end of our sketch thereof 



Fam. I. Forficulidae Earwigs. 



(dekmaptera or dermatoptera of brauer and others) 



Insects of elongate form, luitli an imhricate arrangement of the 



segments of the hody ; hearing at 

 the posterior extremity a pair of 

 callipers or more distorted inst7'u- 

 ments. The hind laings (tvhen 

 present) folded in a complex 

 manner, and covered, except at their 

 tips, hy a pair of short wing-covers 

 (teginina), of a leather-like consist- 

 ence. Wingless forms are very 

 numerous. The young is very 

 similar to the adult. 



Although earwigs are said to be 

 rare in most parts of the world, yet 

 in Europe no Insect is better known 

 than Forficula auricularia, the common 

 earwig, it being very abundant even in 

 gardens and cultivated places. In certain seasons it not un- 

 frequently enters our houses, in which case it too often falls a 



^ Ann. Mus. Genova, xxxiii. (1892). 



Fig. 102. Pygidicrana hugeli. 

 Java. 



