CHAPTER VI. 



Order III. ORTHOPTERA.* 



(Cockroaches, Crickets, Grasshoppers, Locusts, Earwigs, et a!.) 



Tlie members of tJiis order hare four wings : the first pair are 

 thickened, and usually overlap when at rest ; the second pair are 

 thinner, and are folded in plaits longitudinally. The mouth parts art- 

 formed for biting. The metamorphosis is incomplete. 



The order Orthoptera includes some of the very common and 

 best known insects. The most familiar representatives are the cock- 

 roaches, crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, and katydids. 



Although the song of the katydid'and the chirp of the cricket 

 are most often associated with recollections of pleasant evenings 

 spent in the country, we cannot forget that to members of this order 

 are due some of the most terrible insect scourges man has known. 

 The devastations caused by great swarms of migratory locusts are 

 not only matters of historical record, but are too painfully known to 

 many of our own generation in the Western States. 



With the exception of a single family (Mantida.*), the members of 

 this order are as a rule injurious to vegetation. And main 



quite apt to multiply to such an extent that their destruction of 

 plant life becomes of economic importance. 



In the Orthoptera the two pairs of wings differ in structure-. 



front \\ ithery or parchment-like, forming covers 



the more delicate hind wings. These wing-covers have i ! the 



special name tcgmina. Excepting in the first family (the earwigs), 

 < )rthoptera arc thickly reticulated \\ ith a net-work 

 of v .d usually overlap at the tips. The- position and struc- 



ture of ' ulna differ in the different families, and afford good 



characters for separating them. The more important \ 



nina usually divide them into three more or less wt 11 mat 



as. These have bi ning \\ith that bor- 



dering on the front margin of the \\ing. the costal. \\\ nal 



The hind "ed with v- 



Orthftptcra. orthot (opfjof), straight; pteron (xrtpdr), a wing. 



