ORTHOPTERA. 



The Orthoptera is the first group to leave abundant fossil remains and for 

 this reason has bee considered by some entomologists as the ancestral group 

 of winged insects. They are the first group of insects to become hard bodied 

 which probably explains in part the geological record. The Order was 

 grouped with the Hemiptera by Linnaeus and has been combined with the 

 Pseudoneuroptera by many German entomologists. On the other hand it 



i \ 



Figure 314. Disgi-am showing a series of cockroach wings with fold areas ap- 

 proaching the structure found in the wing of an earwig. 



has not infrequently been split into two orders and occasionally into several. 

 The peculiar wing structure in the earwigs has occasioned their separation 

 as a separate order tho it has been shown that the cockroaches show an ap- 

 proach and and is doubtless the group from which they arose. The three 

 families of jumping Orthoptera are the more modern branch of the order, the 

 other families fall into two series, the cockroaches and earwigs forming a 

 group distinct from all other Orthoptera. and perhaps representing a different 

 line of descent. 



SYNOPSIS OF FAMILIES. 



Acrididae: hind legs enlarged for leaping and antennae shorter than body. 



307 



