300 THE INSECT WOELD. 



" The peasants," says Charles de Geer, " make these Locusts 

 bite the warts which they often have on their hands, and the 

 liquid which at the same time flows from the insect's mouth into 

 the wound, causes 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 Phaneropteras and the Copiphoras are exotic locusts. The 

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

 resembles a saddle. 



One often meets in the environs of Paris the Vine Ephippiger 

 (Ephippiger vitium), which is greenish, with four brown stripes on 

 its head. In this species the wing cases or elytra are almost 

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

 friction produces a stridulation or screeching noise. The females are 

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



The genus Grillacris resembles the crickets. It contains the 

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

 wings, even in the perfect state. 



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

 whose fearful ravages are so well known. 



These are among the Orthoptera the best adapted for jump- 

 ing. The thigh and the leg, folded together when at rest, 

 are stretched out suddenly under the action of very powerful 

 muscles. The body, resting 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 walking 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 



* The species of genus Saga sometimes reach extraordinary dimensions. Thus, 

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

 of the Saga which was three inches and a quarter long. Tt svas presented to the 

 Museum of Natural History of Paris, hy M. L. Del air. 



