i 7 8 
INSECTS. 
rolled up, look like a tail curving down over the tip of the abdomen. The 
abdomen itself carries two long flexible tails, which are said to be used like 
antennas, when the insect runs backwards. It is, however, by the extraordinary 
shape of the fore-legs that these insects may be most easily recognised. These 
limbs are thicker, but shorter than the hind-legs; they have very short tibiae, each 
ending below in four strong claws spread out like the fingers of a hand. 
mole-cricket, with eggs and larva: (slightly enlarged). 
Long-Horned Although named Locustidce, this family does not comprise the 
Grasshoppers, locusts, but includes only those grasshoppers in which the antennae 
are long and tapering, and the tarsi are four-jointed; while the female is provided 
with a long ovipositor. Besides these characters, there are some others which help 
to distinguish the Locustidce from the members of the next family. In the present 
group the organs of hearing are placed, as in the crickets, in the tibiae of the fore¬ 
legs ; and the chirping of the male is produced by the friction of the wing-covers 
over one another. The wing-covers, instead of being both alike, as in crickets, 
exhibit a certain amount of difference in the arrangement of the veins and struc¬ 
ture of the membrane in their basal part. Taking the male of the large British 
green grasshopper as an example, it will be seen that on the portion of the right 
elytron which folds horizontally over the trunk, there is near the base a somewhat 
irregularly circular area, which has a glistening appearance, like a piece of talc. 
This area is bordered by a strong prominent vein. In a corresponding position on 
the left elytron, which, when closed, overlaps the right, there are also some thick 
transverse veins, but the cells enclosed by these veins have a similar texture to 
the rest of the membrane. When the insect rubs its left elytron rapidly over the 
right the veins projecting on the under side scrape on the margin of the mirror, and 
set the latter in vibration, thus giving rise to the well-known sound. The chirp¬ 
ing of the Locustidce is generally louder and more prolonged than in the other 
grasshoppers. In certain North American species known as katy-dids, the song 
seems to consist of these words repeated again and again, with a slight variation. 
The life-history of the Locustidce, so far as it is known, does not differ in any 
essential respect from that of the Acridiidce. It is probable that in most cases the 
