THE ACRIDINjK 349 



heads, we observe the remarkable Acridopesa, also from 

 New Holland, in which the female is short, convex, and 

 ovate, and the male elongate and slender. It is in the 

 genus Decticus, belonging to this group, that we find 

 the species called verrucivorus ; which has its name 

 from bemg used as a specific to eat away warts: pos- 

 sibly this is eifected by the acrid secretion it instils into 

 the wound it makes with its mandibles : and it is the 

 closely allied typical genus Locusta which offers us, in 

 the viridissima, our largest native species. 



(308.) The next family, the Acridince, constitute 

 the true grasshoppers, — insects whose song and vivacity 

 give cheerfulness to the noontide languor of a summer's 

 day. They are distinguished chiefly by their antennse 

 being shorter than half the length of the body, and dis- 

 tinctly articulated; the posterior legs being always salta- 

 torial; their tarsi three- jointed, and all the tarsi alike. 

 Some are apterous, as Batrachotetrix and Proscopia, — 

 the latter very much resembling one of the stick-like 

 Phasmina. There is greater uniformity in the struc- 

 ture of their wings than throughout the rest of the 

 circle, and these organs in repose form a very com- 

 pressed roof over it; and the four are always of the same 

 length ; the true wings having frequently considerable 

 expansion, and are often gaily or gaudily coloured, — 

 sometimes being of a bright scarlet, or of a rich purple, 

 as are the insects themselves, although greens are the 

 prevalent tints. A leading characteristic in these in- 

 sects is doubtlessly the diversities of structure observ- 

 able in their prothorax, which, in Acrldium, is usually 

 produced, posteriorly, as long as the body. In Truoc- 

 alis, the antennte are fusiform, and the head is remark- 

 ably formed, having the forehead considerably produced; 

 and in Pneumora. the abdomen is inflated into a 

 large semitransparent bladder : but the (Edipoda mi- 

 gratoria is the species which has obtained the widest 

 celebrity, from its assumed migratorial and destructive 

 habits. The narrative, as regards their flying to con- 

 siderable distances, is possibly fabulous ; but there is 



