ORTHOPTERA 



23 



Orthoptera 



Familiar to all are many of the species that go to make up this 

 order: the grasshoppers, katydids, crickets, and roaches. 



The entire group is characterized by incomplete metamorphosis. 

 The immature form just hatched from an egg is quite similar in appear- 

 ance to the adult, except that it is very much smaller, and that it has 

 no wings. As it grows, wing pads develop, and finally, with the last 

 moult, the adult comes forth. 



All insects in this order have biting mouth parts. There are two 

 pairs of wings. The front pair are leathery, and, when at rest, cover the 

 hind pair, which are thin 

 and papery, and are folded 

 in plaits. The antennae 

 vary, but frequently are 

 quite long and slender. 



The order is di\dded into 

 various subgroups or fami- 

 lies. Thus we have the 

 jumping Orthoptera, includ- 

 ing the Gryllidse or crickets, 

 the Acrididae or grasshop- 

 pers, and the Locustidse or 

 katydids; the running Or- 

 thoptera, including the Blat- 



tidae or roaches; the grasping Orthoptera, including the Mantidse 

 or praying mantids; and the walking Orthoptera, including the 

 peculiar insects known as the Phasmidse or walking sticks. 



There are many injurious pests in this order; some of them, such as 

 the Rocky Mountain locust, famous for the devastation that they have 

 wrought to American farms. The immature stages, or nymphs, as 

 well as the adults, are destructive, though in less degree because they 

 are smaller. 



-One of the jumping Orthoptera, 

 or GryUidae. Original. 



