y. 



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, f Locusts, .Grasshoppers, Crickets, &c. 



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

 horny* 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 charac- 

 teristic. The second wings are membraneous, 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 are not a great variety of species of 

 Orthoptera. They are insects whose metamorphoses are incom- 

 plete ; 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 ; 



* From 6p9o, straight, and Trrtpov, wing, on account of the manner in "which the 

 under-wings are folded under the upper. ED. 



f Made a separate Order, Dermaptera, by Kirby. ED. 



