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CHAPTER XII. 
Order ORTHOPTERA ( Or-thop'te-ra). 
Cockroaches , Crickets , Grasshoppers, and others . 
The members of this order have four wings : the first pair 
are thickened , and overlap when at rest; the second pair are 
thinner , and are folded in plaits like a fan . The mouth-parts 
are formed for biting . The metamorphosis is incomplete . 
The order Orthoptera includes some of the very common 
and best-known insects. The most familiar representatives 
are those named above. 
Although the song of the Katydid and the chirp of 
crickets are most often associated with recollections of pleas¬ 
ant evenings spent in the country, we cannot forget that to 
members of this order are due some of the most terrible 
insect scourges man has known. The devastations caused 
by great swarms of migratory locusts are not only matters of 
historical record, but are too painfully known to many of our 
own generation in the Western States. 
With the exception of a single family ( Mantidce ), the 
members of this order are, as a rule, injurious to vegetation; 
and many species are quite apt to multiply to such an extent 
that their destruction of vegetation becomes serious. 
The name of the order is from two Greek words: orthos , 
straight; and pteron , a wing. It refers to the longitudinal 
folding of the hind wings. 
In the Orthoptera the two pairs of wings differ in struc¬ 
ture. The fore wings are parchment-like, forming covers for 
the more delicate hind wings. These wing-covers have re- 
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