48 
ORTHOPTERA. 
Whilst these families are in the main clearly distinct, their relation¬ 
ships are by no means clear. Many entomologists regard the Forficuli- 
dce as a separate order (. Euplexoptera). Blattidce are a geologically an¬ 
cient family whose connection with present day insects is not clear. 
PhasmidcB are also an ancient family from which may have branched 
the Mantidce on one side, the Acridiidce as well as the Locustidce and 
Gryllidce on the other. The last two are undoubtedly closely allied 
and such aberrant forms as Schizodactylus may well be placed in 
either. 
Gryllidce is much more an aggregation of divergent tribes which 
may or may not have a common ancestor and so be included in one 
family, than is for instance Acridiidce which is a homogenous family. 
Until further evidence is available, a reasonable view is to regard Blattidce 
and Phasmidce as two archaic families still existing in a slightly modified 
form, from the latter of which descended the carnivorous Mantidce on 
one side, the common ancestor of the Acridiidce and the herbivorous 
Locustidce on the other, from which we have the carnivorous Locustidce , 
the burrowing crickets (from some such form as Schizodactylus ), the 
various other tribes of Gryllidce from other forms of primitive Locus¬ 
tidce. The Forficulidce are possibly an off-shoot from a primitive form 
of a Blattid ancestor and although retaining the characters of the 
primitive Orthopterous ancestor, are now distinct; it is equally probable 
that they are a distinct family more closely related to the primitive an¬ 
cestor of the Coleoptera. Whatever view may be held by science when 
more information is available, these seven families are usefully aggregat¬ 
ed in one order and the separate families are, as a rule, easy to distin¬ 
guish. It is unfortunate that the name Locusta should have been applied 
by Linnaeus to an insect that is not sufficiently close to the “locusts” to 
be in the same family; the result is that taking the family name from the 
oldest named member, Locustidce does not include “locusts” which are 
Acridiidce. Entomologists sometimes evade the difficulty by naming 
the Locustid family Phasgonuridce or by transposing the names and ap¬ 
plying the name Locustidce to the Acridiidce. Mr. Kirby calls our Acridi- 
ids, Locustidce , our Locustids, Phasgonuridce , and our Gryllids, Achetidce. 
The more important papers are the following :— 
Stal, Recensio Orthopterorum (1873), Brunner, Revision du Sys- 
teme des Orthopteres (1893). Walker—Catalogue of Dermaptera Sal- 
