THE GRASSHOPPER 



17 



paratively soft skin they are a favorite food of birds and other 

 animals that eat insects. 



The cockroaches (Blattidte) are by preference creatures of 

 the tropics. Those that hve in cold chmates hke dark and 

 warm places. The few kinds found in our fields live chiefly 

 under stones and logs, and some of them are wingless (P'ig. 10). 

 The two kinds that are our household 

 pests were accidentall_y imported from 

 Europe. One of these is the small, 

 brown " C'roton bug " which is founrl 

 among water pipes in kitchens ; anrl the 

 other is the large black species common 

 in sugar-refineries, slaughter-houses, 

 and bakeshops. All are ofiinivorous, 

 eating such things as sugar, liread- 

 stuffs, clothing, bookbindings, bedljugs, 

 and other insects. The eggs of cock- 

 roaches are laid in a small hunp, and all enclosed in a single, 

 brownish capsule through one end of which the young hatch. 



The praying mantises (Mantidse) have received their 

 popular name l)ecause of the devotional attitude in which the 

 greatly enlarged front legs are held. Unlike other Orthoptera 

 they are carnivorous ; that is, they feed upon live animals. 

 They hunt and devour other insects, — some even that are larger 

 than themselves, — and the}' jirey upon each other. While 

 most of the species are tropical, one (Fig. 11) is abundant in 

 our Southern States and another occurs in the Missouri Valley. 



The earwigs (Forficu'lidae) resemble short-winged beetles 

 (page 66), but differ from them in having large pincers or for- 

 ceps at the hind end of the liody. The earwigs (Fig. 12) use 

 the forceps in seizing prey or in grasping one another. Earwigs 







Fi<"i. 10. — Wingless cock- 

 roach. Nat. .size. Photo, 

 by W. H. C. P. 



