74 THE entomologist's recoed. 



often occurs that, while the male is a good performer in the air, the 

 female, by reason of greater size and smaller wings, is unable to raise 

 herself from the ground. Often, too, we find dimorphic species, 

 which seem to be perfectly indifferent to the possession of wings, living 

 equally happily with or without these organs. It is by no means a 

 rare occurrence to find a specimen of a normally winged species with 

 rudimentary wings, and rice rersci. 



Broadly speaking, Orthoptera are large insects ; that is to say, 

 the smallest known species would seem gigantic compared with certain 

 minute beetles, while some Phasmidae, Acridiodea, and Locustodea are 

 among the largest insects known. As well as being large, they arc 

 also heavy, with the natural result that they require more powerful 

 wings to support them ; further, it is only the hinder pair or true 

 wings, which are used for propulsion, as far as we can tell, for the an- 

 terior pair or elytra are hard and coriaceous, and can be of little use to 

 drive the insect through the air, though they may act as inclined 

 planes. It is a general rule, also, in Orthoptera, that the females exceed 

 the males in size, in some cases very considerably. In Caln]>tenu>i 

 italicKs, for example, the female is nearly three times as large as the 

 male, and in Oedipa, Stethophyma, iStenobothnis, and very many other 

 genera the same fact is noticeable. Now, as the female increases in 

 size, so the elytra and wings diminish, varying in inverse ratio with the 

 magnitude of the creature. In Mastax niyra, Gilgio-Tos, the male is 

 a small and fully Avinged insect. In the female, the wings are scarcely 

 less in size, but the insect itself seems to have outgrown its wings, for, 

 in the specimens now before me, they are far too weak and small to 

 lift the owner into the air. The male, I should imagine, is a very fair 

 flyer. 



It would be reasonable to deduce from this evidence, that in some 

 cases the males, being the more active animals, would search out the 

 females, that is, unless they possess the power of stridulation with which 

 to entice their spouses to the marriage ceremony, but we have too few 

 observations to corroborate the fact. 



The great majority of Orthoptera are more or less sedentary in 

 habits. The Furfiodaria rarely fly, but spend the day hiding in dark 

 corners, seeking their food at night, and, being very rapid runners, have 

 little occasion to use their wings. The same remark applies to the 

 cockroaches. The Mantodea are, from all accounts, chiefly shiggish 

 creatures, which wait to snare their prey, though sometimes they fly in 

 the evening. The Phatoiiodca too, seem only to use their wings as 

 parachutes, relying on their coloration and their spines to protect them 

 from their enemies. The best flyers are to bo found in the Acridiodea, 

 for to this group we refer the great migratory locusts, with their well- 

 developed wings and voluminous air-sacs. But the smaller species 

 seem to use their Avings solely for flying short distances, twenty or 

 thirty yards at the most. The Avinged Locustodea scarcely fly more 

 than a dozen yards, and the crickets \'ery rarely fly at all. The 

 result of these more or loss sedentai-y habits, is that the wings 

 gradually lose their importance to their OAvners, for procuring food, or 

 for escaping from tlieir adA-ersaries. 



But although there are so many apterous forms in Orthoptera, the 

 elytra at least, in the saltatorial groups, aro often rotainod for purposes 

 of stridulation, long after they are too diminutive for flight. 



