INTEODUCTION. 



In submitting the first volume o£ a general Catalogue o£ 

 Orthopfcera to the Entomological public, it appears desirable to 

 make some remarks on the most important recent works on the 

 families included in it, and on the general arrangement of the 

 Collection. 



Eight principal families of Orthoptera are recognized in the 

 present work, of which the first five — Forficulidoe, Hemimeridce, 

 Blattidce, Mantidce, and PJiasmidce (or Earwigs, Cockroaches, 

 Praying Insects or Soothsayers, and Stick Insects or Spectre 

 Insects, including the so-called Walking Leaves) — are catalogued 

 in this volume. Of these ihe Forficulidce, Blattidce^ and Mantidce 

 of Mexico and Central America have been monographed by 

 De Bormans, De Saussure, and Zehntner in the ' Biologia 

 Centrali-Americana.^ 



The whole of the Orthoptera in the British Museum were 

 arranged, in the first instance, by Adam White. 



The Forficulidce were subsequently rearranged by J. 0. West- 

 wood, who, however, published little of importance on the 

 family. They are frequently regarded as a distinct order, to 

 which the names Dermaptera and Euplexoptera have been 

 applied. The former name, however, has sometimes been used 

 for the Orthoptera in general. Till recently the Forjicididce have 

 b'een somewhat neglected by Entomolo^sts ; but in 1900 a 

 monograph on the Forjicididce and Hemimeridce^ by H. de Bormans 

 and H. Krauss, was published as a volume of the series of 



