152 
OB'THOPTERA. 
Fig. 69. 
The scientific name of the genus that includes the cricket 
is Acheta, and our common species is 
the Acheta abbreviata (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 , 1 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 Qpalpi) 
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. 
[ 4 It is A. Pennsylvania^ Burm. Priority of nomenclature requires this name 
to be retained. — Uhler.] 
