ORTHOPTERA : CHARACTERS, .349 



ORDER III. ORTHOPTERA. 



This order was at first united by Linnaeus with the Colea- 

 ])tcra, and afterwards arranged by him with the haustellated 

 Ilemiptera, from the construction of the wings. By Geoffroy 

 it was also arranged with the Coleoptera, forming the third 

 primary division of that order. 



De Geer, however, saw the impropriety of retaining these 

 insects in either of these two classes, from each of which 

 they differed in the structure of the wings and mouth, or in 

 the nature of their metamorphoses, and accordingly raised 

 them to the rank of a distinct order, to which Olivier subse- 

 quently gave the name of Orthoptera, from the longitudinal 

 or straight (op9og) folding of the wings (Trrcpa). Fabricius 

 had also raised these insects to the rank of an order, which 

 he termed Ulonata, from the Greek ovXog, an outer gum, 

 and yvaQog, a jaw, the lower jaws being laterally armed with 

 a helmet-like plate, which is in fact but the greatly developed 

 external lobe of the maxillae. 



The body in these insects is generally of a large size, less 

 firm in its consistence than in the Coleoptera, with the teg- 

 mina or wing-covers more coriaceous, provided with numerous 

 nervures, and not uniting when closed in a straight line 

 down the back ; the \\dngs are membranaceous, and furnish- 

 ed with equally numerous nerves, arranged longitudinally, 

 with transverse threads, so that they fold up something like 

 a fan; the mouth is furnished with a very considerably 

 developed organ, which is the analogue of the tongue. These 

 characters alone would suffice to point out their differences 

 from the Coleoptera, in which the outer lobe of the maxillaj 

 is not helmet-like, and the wings are transversely folded, 

 whilst the mouth in the Hemiptera is not formed for mastica- 

 tion, being unprovided with jaws, and the wings are simple, 



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