ARTICULATA. 165 
of September, 1846, I observed, at a great distance, the forest on the 
Monocasy hills to be stripped of its leaves, and to have a peculiar brown 
appearance. On inquiry, I was told that within a month or six weeks 
myriads of strange insects had suddenly made their appearance, and were 
voraciously devouring all the leaves of the forest trees. I had learned, a few 
days previously, that some insect was committing great ravages on the forest 
trees at the distance of twenty-four miles in the opposite direction. Indivi- 
duals from both localities being procured, were found to be the same insect.” 
Fam. 5. Gryllide (pl. 80, jigs. 86-88). The family of the crickets were 
included by Linnzeus in his great genus Gryllus, and on this account there 
is some confusion of names. This family was named Gryllides by Latreille, 
and Achetide by the English. The antenne are long and filiform, the tarsi 
generally trimerous, and the abdomen terminating with two long sete. In 
the crickets the males produce a monotonous stridulating noise, by rubbing 
together a peculiar apparatus upon their elytra. Although they have a 
general resemblance to the grasshoppers, they differ in their habits, being 
altogether terrestrial, and having the power of burrowing to a greater or 
less extent. They run well, but do not leap as well as the grasshoppers. 
The true crickets generally remain in their burrows during the day, and 
search for their food at night. In some countries they infest houses, particu- 
larly the kitchens, where they are attracted by the warmth. They seem to 
live both upon vegetable and animal food. The crickets are referred to 
the genus Gryllus, Linn. (pl. 80, jigs. 86, 87), although the English ento- 
mologists use the Fabrician name Acheta. 
Gryllotalpa (fig. 88) is a genus in which the anterior feet are short and 
broad, and adapted for digging, like those of the mole, and like this animal, 
they burrow beneath the soil, forming a small bridge which marks their course. 
In Europe it is regarded as a noxious insect, but the American species seems 
not to be known to horticulturists. 
Fam. 6. Locustide. Variations of this family name are used by the 
French and Germans, but the English name them (Gryllidw, and the 
Gryllide they name Locustide, apparently for the purpose of making a con- 
cession to the vulgar name Jocust, as used in England. In this family the 
antenne are setaceous and very long, the wing-covers deflexed, the posterior 
feet very long and adapted for leaping, the tarsi tetramerous, the abdomen 
with a pair of small filiform appendages, that of the female having a sharp 
flattened ovipositor. The males make a loud stridulation by means of their 
upper wings, near the base of which is a plate of a peculiar construction 
for this purpose. Locusta viridissema (pl. 80, fig. 85), the cigale of the 
French, is a noisy European species, and the Platyphyllwm concavum 
or Catydid, is a familiar American example. Decticus apterus (fig. 83), 
D. verrucivorus (jig. 84), are European species; Poccilocera morbillosu 
( fig. 82) is from the Cape of Good Hope. These insects are more arboreal 
in their habits than those of the next family, and from the fine green color 
of many of them, they are easily overlooked among foliage. 
fam.7. Acridiide (pl. 80, jigs. 78-81). This family is named Acridiens 
by the French, Zocustide by the English, and by Burmeister Aecrzdiodea. 
ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOP£DIA.—VOL. IJ. 24 369 
