126 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



verrucivorm, is of the same length. The former insect is found in many parts of the country in 

 meadows, but it also goes freely upon trees and shrubs ; the latter is more particularly a ground- 

 loving species. It receives its name from the custom prevailing among the Swedish peasants of 

 making it bite their warts. The insect, in common with many other Grasshoppers, when at all roughly 

 handled, emits from the mouth a brownish fluid which is said to possess acrid qualities, and the 

 introduction of this into the warts is supposed to cause their disappearance. 



The forehead in most species of this family is more or less prominent, but in those of the genus 

 Conocephalus this part is produced into a conical process, which projects forward between the 

 antenme ; and in Copipkora it forms a very pointed cone which stands up perpendicularly from 

 the head. The females in the last-named genus, the species of which inhabit South America, are 

 remarkable for the length of the ovipositor ; in Copiphora cornuta, the body is about one inch and a 

 quarter, and the ovipositor two inches long. The general colour of the species, especially of those 

 which live upon trees and shrubs, is green, which renders their detection in their leafy abode very diffi- 

 cult, but in certain tropical genera (such as Phyllopkora and Phylloptera], this difficulty is increased 

 by the form of the wing-cases, which ai-e broad and flat, placed very neai-ly perpendicularly upon 

 the sides of the body, and traversed by a strong median vein, from which other smaller 

 veins appear to spring after the fashion of the veins of a leaf. The resemblance to particular leaves 

 is so striking that the species are named from it, and we have Phylloptera laurifolia, P. myrtifolia, 

 Pseudophyllus neriifolius, &c. These are all tropical species. 



FAMILY III. ACRIDIID^E. 



This family, which includes the common Grasshoppers and true Locusts, is easily distinguished 

 fiom both the preceding by the character of the antennae, these organs being short, less than half 

 the length of the body, generally thread-like, or even more or less thickened towards the tip. The 



insects ai - e generally of a stouter form 

 than the Locustida?, and have the body 

 compressed at the sides. The head is 

 similar in its general character to that 

 of the Locustida?, but it has almost 

 always three ocelli upon the forehead ; 

 the oi-gans of the mouth, especially the 

 mandibles, are strong ; the labrum is very 

 lai'ge and notched in the middle ; and the 

 inner lobes of the labium are much re- 

 duced in size and concealed by the outer 

 ones. The pronotum usually shows three 

 MIGRATORY LOCUST (ffidipoda migratoria). longitudinal ridges, and is more or less 



produced behind ; the tegmina are narrow 



and roof-like, and those of the males contain no special stridulating organs, the well-known chirping 

 of these insects being produced by a different arrangement ; the hind legs are elongated ; the tarsi 

 are of three joints ; and there is no projecting ovipositor in the females. 



The song of the male Grasshopper, which must be familiar to every one who has walked through 

 fields in the summer, is produced by the friction of the hinder thighs against the wing-cases. The 

 insect stands upon his four ambulatory legs, and works the hind legs alternately up and down 

 on each side of the body, so that the inside of the thighs passes rapidly over the veins of the wing- 

 cases. Dr. Landois finds towards the lower surface of the inside of each thigh a small elevated 

 ridge, upon which there is a row of minute lancet-shaped teeth, and it is apparently the friction 

 of these little points against the strong veins of the corresponding part of the tegmina that gives 

 origin to the chirping sound. Burmeister says that the females also possess the power of chirping, 

 but this would appear to be a mistake, although they may be observed occasionally performing the 

 same movements of the limbs by which the males produce their sounds ; at the same time, it is to be 

 remarked that even the males of some species exercise themselves in the same way without effect 

 so far as our ears are concerned, and yet Colonel Goureau was of opinion that they may be audible to 



