CLASS I. INSECTA: ORDER 10. RHYNGIIOTA. 
593 
of a hostile army is less dreaded in tlie countries subject to these visitations, than the appear- 
ance of the hosts of the locusts, which were regarded by the ancients, both Jews and Pagans, 
and still are by the Arabs, as the avenging armies of the Deity. The modern Arabs, in fact, 
declare that the locust bears a statement to this effect, in good Arabic, in the markings on its 
wings. The best known species is the Locusta migratoria^ which has occasionally found its way 
into Central Europe ; but in the south of Europe this insect is a formidable enemy to agriculture, 
and a considerable amount is there annually paid in I'ewards for its destruction. 
The inhabitants both of Asia and Africa, where locusts particularly abound, use these animals 
as a common article of food. They generally pull off the legs and wings, and fry the bodies in oil 
or butter, and a dish of locusts well prepared is said to be regarded as somewhat of a delicacy in 
those countries. The locusts are also occasionally dried, pounded, and used as flour ; even cattle 
and horses are fed on them where they are abundant. The migratory locust measures about 
two inches and a half in length, and some other exotic species are much larger; the Locusta 
cristata, a very beautiful species, common in the Levant, being four inches long, and between 
seven and eight in expanse of wings. The common European species are generally of compara- 
tively small size. Nearly all of them produce a loud chirping noise, by rubbing the inside of 
the thigh against the elevated nervures of the wing-covers ; but beyond this they possess no spe- 
cial apparatus for the production of sound. 
Among the American locusts are the Carolina Locust, L. Carolina, one inch and a half 
long ; the L. corallina, L, sulphurea, and L. nehulosa. 
ORDER 9. PHYSOPODA. 
These insects, which derive their name from the Greek phu&a, a bladder, and pons, a foot, are 
found upon most plants, generally in the flowers, which they appear to visit in search of the 
sweet fluid to be found in such situations. They run quickly, and often perform considerable 
leaps by the assistance of the abdomen. Many of them, not content with such light nourish- 
ment as the nectar of flowers, inhabit the foliage and stems of plants, to which they often do a 
great deal of mischief. One species, the Thrips cerealium, has frequently done considerable 
damage to the wheat crops in Europe, and a similar species has been frequently mischievous in 
this country. It sometimes attacks the grain in the ear, often gnawing the tender stems. 
Others are found upon and under the bark of trees. 
ORDER 10. RHYNCHOTA. 
The order Rhynchota, corresponding with the Hemiptera of Latreille, is distinguished from 
the other insects with an imperfect metamorphosis by the possession of a suctorial mouth. This 
consists of a more or less flexible jointed rostrum, composed of the labial palpi, which forms a 
sheath within wiich four bristles, the analogues of the mandibles and maxillse, are contained and 
protected from injury. By means of these bristles the insect wounds the plants or animals upon 
the juices of which it feeds, and the fluid nutriment is then sucked up by the action of an 
inflated appendage of the oesophagus. The head always bears a pair of compound eyes, and 
usually either two or three ocelli. Most of the species possess four wings, which vary considei"- 
ably in their structure. The order may be divided into two sub-orders, the Heteroptera and the 
Homoptera. 
THE HETEEOPTERA. 
This term is from the Greek heteros, dissimilar, and j9^em, wings, and includes two principal groups,, 
the Hydrocores, Water-Bugs, and the Gbocores, La.nd-Bugs. The former are at once recog- 
nizable by the small size of their antennee, which are composed of three or four short joints, and^ 
concealed beneath the eyes. Of these, the Notonectida are distinguished by their broad, rounded 
head, which occupies the whole width of the front of the body. They swim rapidly about in the 
water, with their bellies directed upward, rowing themselves along by means of their flattened 
Vol. 11.-15 
