NOMENCLATURE. 31 



CHAPTER I. 



CLASSIFIOATIOX AND NOMENCLATURE— CHARACTERS OF 



THE SPECIES. 



The great damage done in the West during the past few years by 

 "grasshoppers" has caused these insects to be more closely observed than 

 formerly, and the members of the Commission are from time to time re- 

 ceiving specimens from persons both east and west inquiring whether 

 they are the much-dreaded species. We have therefore concluded to 

 give a brief outline of the classification of the family to which this 

 species belongs, and of the characters by which the group and species 

 may be distinguished from other groups and species which are closely 

 allied. 



When the popular name of a group of insects or other animals, that 

 is generally accepted, corresponds somewhat closely in its application 

 to the scientific division, it is not difficult to convey to the general reader 

 a correct idea of the position and characters of a given species by refer- 

 ence to and comparison with well-known species of that grou|). Un- 

 fortunately, in the present instance, not only is the opportunity for refer- 

 ence to well-known species wanting, but the popular names applied to 

 species and groups are so confused and erroneous that their use is calcu- 

 lated to convey incorrect ideas to unscientific readers. 



Even the name locust as formerly, and yet very generally, applied in 

 this country is incorrectly used, referring to an insect not even belonging 

 to the same order as the locusts of oriental countries. 



The " seventeen-year locust " of North America is, in fact, not a locust 

 in the true sense, but a species of Cicada, or harvest-fly, belonging to 

 the order Hemiptera, which contains only insects with a mouth prolonged 

 into a horny, jointed tube formed for sucking the juices of the plants or 

 animals on which they feed. 



On the contrary, the locusts of the Old World, to which the term was 

 originally and correctly applied, are species of migratory grasshoppers 

 belonging to the order Orthoptera, and are furnished with strong biting 

 jaws or mandibles. There are other very material differences between 

 the two, but these will suffice to show that they are quite distinct. 



The very common name " grasshopper " has likewise been unfortunate 

 in its use and application not only in a popular sense, but even by 

 scientists, referring at one time to the true locusts or to the various 

 species of the family to which they belong, and at another to species of 

 a different family, which includes katydids. In fact, the term as gener- 

 ally used applies to most of the species of two different families of Or- 

 tJwptera. In order, therefore, to convey a correct idea of the destructive 



