152 



ORTHOPTERA 



Fig. 69. 



The scientific name of the genus that includes the cricket 

 is Acheta, and our common species is 

 the Acheta abbreviate (Fig. 69), so 

 named from the shortness of its wings, 

 which do not extend beyond the wing- 

 covers. It is about three quarters of 

 an inch in length, of a black color, with 

 a brownish tinge at the base of the 

 wing-covers, and a pale line on each 

 side above the deflexed border. The 

 pale line is most distinct in the female, 

 and is oftentimes entirely wanting in 

 the male. 



We have another species with very 

 short or abortive wings ; it is entirely 

 of a black color, and measures six tenths of an inch in length 

 from the head to the end of the body.. It may be called 

 Acheta nigra,* the black cricket. 



A third species, differing from these two in being entirely 

 destitute of wings, and in having the wing-covers proportion- 

 ally much shorter, and the last joint of the feelers (palpi) 

 almost twice the length of the preceding joint, is furthermore 

 distinguished from them by its greatly inferior size, and its 

 different coloring. It measures from three to above four 

 tenths of an inch in length, and varies in color from dusky 

 brown to rusty black, the wing-covers and hindmost thighs 

 being always somewhat lighter. In the brownish-colored 

 varieties three longitudinal black lines are distinctly visible 

 on the top of the head, and a black line on each side of 

 the thorax, which is continued along the sides of the wing- 

 covers to their tips. This black line on the wing-covers is 

 never wanting, even in the darkest varieties. The hindmost 

 thighs have, on the outside, three rows of short oblique 

 black lines, presenting somewhat of a twilled appearance. 



[ * It is A. Pennsylvanica, Burm. Priority of nomenclature requires this name 

 to be retained. — Uhler.] 



