142 OETHOPTEEA. 



result of hb observations intelligible and useful to the com- 

 munity. 



The insects wliicli I here call locusts, together with other 

 grasshoppers, earwigs, crickets, spectres or walking-sticks, 

 and walking-leaves, soothsayers, cockroaches, &c., belong to 

 an order called Orthoptera, literally straight wings ; for 

 their wings, when not in use, are folded lengthwise in narrow 

 plaits hke a fan, and are laid straight along the top or sides 

 of the back. They are also covered by a pair of thicker 

 wing-like members, wliich, in the locusts and grasshoppers, 

 are long and narrow, and lie lengthwise on the sides of the 

 body, sloping outwards on each side like the roof of a house ; 

 in the cockroaches, these upper wings or wing-covers are 

 broader, almost oval, and lie horizontally on the top of the 

 back, overlapping on their inner edges ; and in the crickets, 

 the wing-covers, when closed, are placed like those of cock- 

 roaches, but have a narrow outer border, which is folded 

 perpendicularly downwards so as to cover the sides of the 

 body also. 



All the Orthopterous insects are provided with transverse- 

 ly movable jaws, more or less like those of beetles, but they 

 do not undergo a complete transformation in coming to ma- 

 turity. The young, in fact, often present a close resemblance 

 to the adult insects in form, and differ from them chiefly in 

 wanting wings. They move about and feed precisely hke 

 their parents, but change theu- skins repeatedly before they 

 come to their full size. The second stage in the progress 

 of the Orthopterous insects to maturity is not, hke that of 

 beetles, a state of inactivity and rest, in wliich the insect loses 

 the grub-like or larva form which it had when hatched from 

 the egg, and becomes a pupa or chrysalis, more nearly resem- 

 bling the form of a beetle, but soft, whitish, and with its un- 

 developed wings and limbs incased in a thin transparent skin 

 which impedes all motion. On the contrary, the Orthoptera 

 in the pupa state do not differ from the young and from the 

 old insects, except in having the rudiments of wings and 



