314 



ORTHOPTERA 



in size that it is a matter of astonishment how it can ever have 

 been packed in the egg; the young commence jumping and 

 eating leaves in a few minutes. Including 

 the ecdysis made on leaving the egg, they 

 cast their skins five times. The post-embryonic 

 development occupies a period of about ten 

 weeks. The larvae eat their cast skins. When 

 the final moult occurs the tegmina and wings 

 are at first quite soft and colourless, but 

 within an hour they assume their green colour. 

 These Insects, as remarked by Eiley, make in- 

 teresting pets. The people of the Amazon valley 

 are in the habit of keeping a species in cages, 

 and our Britisli Locusta viridissima does very 

 well in confinement. One of the most curious 

 habits of these Locustidae is a constant lick- 

 ing of the front paws. Eiley says that M. 

 retinerve bestows as much attention on its 

 long graceful antennae as many a maiden does 

 upon her abundant tresses, the antennae being 

 drawn between the jaws and smoothed by the 

 palpi. This American naturalist also tells us 

 that he reared three successive broods in con- 

 finement, and that the Insects gradually 

 deteriorated, so that the eggs of the third 

 generation failed to hatch. 



The ovipositor, which is one of the most characteristic features 

 of the Locustidae, is not present in the newly-hatched Locustid 

 (Fig. 191, A), the organ being then represented only by two 

 papillae placed on the penultimate segment. The structure and 

 development of the ovipositor in Locusta mridissima have been 

 described by Dewitz.^ Fig. 191, A, shows the young Insect taken 

 from the egg just as it is about to emerge. The abdomen consists 

 of ten segments, the terminal one bearing at its extremity two 

 processes, the cerci, a'. These persist throughout the life of the 

 Insect, and take no part in the formation of the ovipositor. The 

 tenth segment subsequently divides into two (a., a" , Fig. 191, C), 

 giving rise to the appearance of eleven abdominal segments, 

 and of the ovipositor springing from the antepenultimate. Near 



^ Zeitschr. wiss. Zool. xxv. 1875, pp. 174-200, pi. xii. 



A B 



Fig. 190. Eggs of 

 Katydid {Microcen- 

 truvi retinerve) : A, 

 the two series at 

 deposition ; B, side 

 view of a single 

 (After Riley.) 



