ORTIIOPTERA. 557 



The Ortlioptera are insects* which undergd a semicompleto metamorphosis, all the changes 

 being reducible to the increase and developeraent of wing-covers and wings, which begin to 

 appear under a rudimentary form in the pupa. This pupa and the larva resemble the perfect 

 insect in other respects, walking and feeding in the same manner. 



The mouth of the Ortlioptera is composed of a laln'um, two mandibles, two maxdla;, and 

 four palpi ; those of the maxilht have alwa3S five joints ; the labial palpi, as in the Coleoptera, 

 have only three. The mandibles are always very strong and horny ; the tonguelet is con- 

 stantly divided into two or four plates. The form of the antennse varies less than in the Cole- 

 optera, but they are generally composed of a much greater number of joints. Many, in 

 addition to the composite eyes, have two or three ocelli. The under-side of the basal joints 

 of the tarsi is often fleshy, or membranous; the basal joint in the Grasshoppers with short 

 antenna;, presents three lobes, or divisions, on the under-side. [In these insects, however, the 

 tarsi consist but of three joints; these lobes, therefore, indicate the other two joints, which 

 are evidently soldered with the first.] Many females are furnished with a real borer, formed 

 of two plates, for depositing their eggs, which are often covered by a common envelope. 

 The posterior extremity of the body is generally armed with appendages. 



The intestines of the larv;e resemble those of the perfect insects. 



All the known Orthoptera are, without exception, terrestrial, both in their perfect and two 

 previous states. Some are carnivorous, or omnivorous ; but the greater numbers feed upon 

 living plants. The species which inhabit our climate have but a single generation in a year, 

 the eggs being deposited towards the end of the summer. This is also the period of their 

 last transformation. 



We divide the Orthoptera into two great families, [_Cursoria and Saltatoria], a mode of dis- 

 tribution confirmed by their anatomy ; the insects of the first having only tubular trachea;, 

 wdiilst those of the second have vesicular trachete. [We are indebted to M. Serville for a 

 revision of the generic division of this order, published in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles. 

 Dr. Burmeister, in 1838, also worked out the order, adding many new genera, in his Hand- 

 biwh der Entomologie. In 1839, M. Serville, unacquainted with Bnrmeister's work, published 

 his liistoire Natiirdle des Insectes Orthopteres, in which he introduced many new genera, as 

 w ell as some established by Burmeister, but with other names ; which of course must rank as 

 syiionymes. Dr. Burmeister has just published, in the third number of Germar's Zeitschrift 

 der Entomologie, a revision of these two works, with a view of pointing out the synonymes.] 



In the first family all the legs are alike, and solely fitted for running ; in the second, the 

 thighs of the hind legs are much larger than those of the other feet, wdiicb gives them the 

 power of leaping ; the males, moreover, make a sharp noise, or a kind of stridulation. These 

 are the leaping, or musical Orthoptera. 



THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE ORTHOPTERA,— 



The Cursori.v, — 

 Has the hind legs solely fitted, like the others, for running. They have generally the wing-covers and 

 wings resting hdrizontally on the liodj' ; the females do not possess a horny ovipositor. These form 

 three genera, [Forficula, Blatta, and Mantis]. Tlie first, that of 



The Earwigs {Forficula, Linn.), — 

 lias three joints to the tarsi, the wings folded lilie a fan, and shutting up transversely beneath erus- 

 taceous wing-covers, which are very short, and meet in a straight suture ; the body is linear, with two 

 large scaly moveable appendages, winch form a forceps at the posterior extremity of the body. The 

 hcail is exposed ; the antenna; are filiform, inserted in front of the eyes, and composed of from 

 twelve to thirty joints, in dift'erent species. Tlie galea is slender, elongated, and nearly cylindrical 



