Wi 
ORTHOPTERA. 
Amonce the Orthoptera* we meet with some of the largest of insects, 
and particularly those which are of strange and extraordinary 
shapes. The best known insects of this order are the Mantes, 
Cockroaches, Earwigs,t Locusts, Grasshoppers, Crickets, &e. 
The Orthoptera have the anterior wings long, narrow, half- 
horny. These are elytra, which serve as cases for their second 
wings, as is the case with the Coleoptera. But the elytra of the 
Orthoptera are less solid and less complete than those of the 
Coleoptera. Moreover, they generally over-lap each other when 
the insect is at rest, which is another distinctive characteristic. 
The second wings are membranous, very broad, and veined ; and, 
when at rest, are folded up ike a fan. The mouth is composed of 
free pieces. The mandibles, the jaws, and the two lips, always 
well developed, show them to be insects which grind their food. 
Their voracity, and the rapid way in which they multiply, some- 
times make these insects the pest of the country. Above all, they 
are to be met with in hot countries, where they cause such great 
damage that all vegetation disappears on their passage. There 
are not a great variety of species of Orthoptera. They are insects 
whose metamorphoses are incomplete ; that is, they undergo only 
trifling changes from the moment when the eges are hatched to 
the time when the insect is fully developed. 
When it leaves the egg, the young one resembles its parents ; 
* From doc, straight, and mrepov, wing, on account of the manner in which the 
under-wingss are folded under the upper.—Ep. 
+ Made a separate Order, Dermaptera, by Kirby.—Ep. 
