236 On Regencratiou of Limbs in Orthoptera saltatoria. 



the absence of hiiul legs would put them to a very great 

 disadvantage. 



There is then every reason to allow that these various 

 causes prevent mutilated individuals among the Orthoptera 

 saltatoria from taking j)art in the reproduction of the species. 

 This evidently explains the absence of the power of regene- 

 ration. 



In several species of Orthoptera saltatoria the trochanter of 

 the hind limbs is quite withdrawn {telescoped, to use the 

 picturesque expression of Messrs. Sharp and Brindley) into 

 the interior of the coxa. I thouu;ht at first that tliis arrange- 

 ment might perhaps prevent regeneration. I found after- 

 wards that this could not be, for there is the same absence of 

 regeneration in insects which do not show it. 



The cases of inequality in the size of the juraping-legs 

 recorded by Griffini in Pristes tuberosus and in species 

 belonging to the genera (Edipoda and Gomphocerus appear 

 to me to be due to atrophy and not to regeneration *. 1 have 

 been able to find analogous peculiarities in Phylloptera lauri- 

 folia. Sometimes immediately after a moult an arrest of tiie 

 growth takes place with regard to one of the two jumping- 

 legs, which up to that time had been perfectly equal. I have 

 even noticed the same thing in the case of the wings in the 

 same species of locust. When this insect undergoes its last 

 moult, the wings on one side of the body develop completely, 

 while those on the opposite side remain rudimentary, their 

 size not exceeding that of the wing-coverings of the nymph. 



J am, however, constrained to add that there is good reason 

 for Professor Griffini's belief that regeneration of the two 

 anterior pairs of limbs may take place in Orthoptera saltatoria, 

 judging from an observation \\\a.dLto\\ Platyphyllum Regimbarti. 



\\\ a forthcoming communication I propose to show the 

 truth of Griffini's hypothesis and to prove the possibility of 

 the regeneration of the limbs in question as well as the I'egene- 

 ration of the tarsi in the three pairs of limbs in the Orthoptera 

 saltatoria. 



The determination of the phenomenon of exuvial self- 

 mutilation furnishes a complete explanation of the facts in 

 accordance with the law of Lessona. 



• GrifSni states elsewhere that he never found any traces of regene- 

 ration in the insects which he reared in captivity. 



