CRICKETS. 85 



The natives are afraid to climb the trees on account of these 

 insects, which are able to inflict a very severe bite. Another re- 

 markable cricket, also found in New Zealand, is Macropathus Filipes, 

 Walk., the body of which does not much exceed an inch in 

 length ; but the antennae are of enormous length, many times 

 longer than the body, and fully eight inches long. Crickets are 

 generally of dull colours; and the brown and black of our two 

 species of Acheta is typical of the colours of most of the species of 

 the family. 



FAMILY VI. Gryllidce. 



Antennae and legs as in Achetidce ; wings and tegmina roof- 

 like ; abdomen furnished with a long ovipositor ; tarsi generally 

 four-jointed. 



The most conspicuous British insect of this family is known as 

 the Great Green Grasshopper (Phasgonura Firidissima, Linn.), which 

 measures nearly four inches in expanse of wing, and is therefore 

 nearly as large as the Migratory Locusts which sometimes visit us. 

 It is not an uncommon insect in many parts of England. Many 

 insects of this family are of a green colour, which is liable to fade 

 to yellowish after death. Ephippitytha, Trigintiguttata, Serv., is a 

 very beautiful Australian species, measuring about four inches 

 across the tegmina, which are of a greenish yellow, with a double 

 row of black spots, the first along the front margin ; the wings 

 are slightly transparent. Chloroscelus Tanana, Bates, is a large 

 green species found on the river Amazon, where the natives keep 

 it in small wicker cages for the sake of its song. In some species 

 of this family, as in the genus Phyllophora, the prothorax is of a 

 very extraordinary shape, being formed into a sort of pointed 

 cape, which extends backwards above the abdomen for half its 

 length. 



FAMILY VII. Locustidce. 



Antennae short ; hind legs formed for leaping ; wings extend- 

 ing along the sides of the abdomen, as in the Gryllidce ; abdomen 

 nearly as long as the wings; ovipositor rudimentary; tarsi 

 generally three-jointed. 



This family includes the true Locusts and Grasshoppers, the 

 former of which have been celebrated from the dawn of history 

 for the ravages which they have committed in countries exposed 

 to their attacks. The small grasshoppers which are common in 



1 The families Gryllidce and Locustidce are often called Locustidce and 

 Acridiidce. 



