i 7 8 



INSECTS. ) 



rolled up, look like a tail curving down over the tip of the abdomen. The 

 abdomen itself carries two long; flexible tails, which are said to be used like 

 antennae, when the insect runs backwards. It is, however, by the extraordinary 

 shape of the fore-legs that these insects may be most easily recognised. These 

 limbs are thicker, but shorter than the hind-legs ; they have very short tibiae, each 

 ending below in four strong claws spread out like the fingers of a hand. 



mole-cricket, with eggs and larvae (slightly enlarged). 



Long-Homed Although named Locustidce, this family does not comprise the 



Grasshoppers, locusts, but includes only those grasshoppers in which the antennae 

 are long and tapering, and the tarsi are four-jointed ; while the female is provided 

 with a long ovipositor. Besides these characters, there are some others which help 

 to distinguish the Locustidce from the members of the next family. In the present 

 group the organs of hearing are placed, as in the crickets, in the tibiae of the fore- 

 legs ; and the chirping of the male is produced by the friction of the wing-covers 

 over one another. The wing-covers, instead of being both alike, as in crickets, 

 exhibit a certain amount of difference in the arrangement of the veins and struc- 

 ture of the membrane in their basal part. Taking the male of the large British 

 green grasshopper as an example, it will be seen that on the portion of the right 

 elytron which folds horizontally over the trunk, there is near the base a somewhat 

 irregularly circular area, which has a glistening appearance, like a piece of talc. 

 This area is bordered by a strong prominent vein. In a corresponding position on 

 the left elytron, which, when closed, overlaps the right, there are also some thick 

 transverse veins, but the cells enclosed by these veins have a similar texture to 

 the rest of the membrane. When the insect rubs its left elytron rapidly over the 

 right the veins projecting on the under side scrape on the margin of the mirror, and 

 set the latter in vibration, thus giving rise to the well-known sound. The chirp- 

 ing of the Locustidce is generally louder and more prolonged than in the other 

 grasshoppers. In certain North American species known as katy-dids, the song 

 seems to consist of these words repeated again and again, with a slight variation. 

 The life-history of the Locustidce, so far as it is known, does not differ in any 

 essential respect from that of the Acridiidce. It is probable that in most cases the 



