INSECTA 



73 



the legs all about the same size and fitted for running. 

 They are very swift and for the most part nocturnal. Their 

 natural home is in rotten stumps or under loose bark. 

 Around factories and apartment houses cockroaches often 

 cause a good deal of trouble. Sometimes they carry dis- 

 eases. A finely powdered mixture of equal parts of sugar 

 and borax will kill them. 



Family 2. Acrididce; locusts, or " short-horned " grass- 

 hoppers. They have the hind legs greatly elongated for 



FIG. 40. Representatives of the chief families of Orthoptera. From left to 

 right the insects are as follows: tree cricket (Oecanthidce) ; katydids, female and 

 male (Locustidce) ; mole-cricket, field cricket (Gryllidoe) ; grasshoppers^criduieE) ; 

 mantis and egg-mass (Mantidce) ; cockroach and egg case (Blattidce) ; walking- 

 stick (Phasmidce). 



leaping. The name " short-horn " refers to the abbreviated 

 antennae, which are always shorter than the body. A rep- 

 resentative of this family will be discussed in detail in the 

 next two chapters. 



Family 3. Locustidce; long-horned grasshoppers, katy- 

 dids and meadow grasshoppers. These orthopterans have 



