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Show lNSECTA. F. auricularia, L.; De Grer, Mem. Insect., III, xxv, 16, 25. Length, half an inch; brown; head red; margin of the thorax greyish; legs an ochraceous yellow; fourteen joints in the an-tenna::. The two sexes in coitu are united end to end. The female keeps careful watch over her eggs, and for some time over her young ones. F. minor, L.; De Geer, lb., pl. xxv, 26, 27. Two-thirds smaller than the auricularia; brown; head and thorax black; legs yellow; eleven joints in the antennre. Found more particularly about dung-hills(l). BLATTA, Lin. Where there are f.ve joints to all the tarsi. The wings are only plaited longitudinally, the head is concealed under the plate of the thorax, and the body oval, orbicular aud flattened. Their antenna:: are setaceous, inserted into an internal emargination of the eyes, long, and composed of a great many joints. The palpi are long, the thorax has the form of a shield. The elytra are usually of the length of the abdomen, coriaceous or semi-membranous, and slightly cross each other at the suture. The posterior extremity of the abdomen presents two conical and articulated appendages. The tibire are furnished with small spines. Their crop is longitudinal, and their gizzard is provided internally with strong, hooked teeth. They have eight or ten caeca round the pylorus. The Blattre are very active nocturnal Insects, some of which live in the interior of our houses, particularly the kitchen, in bake-houses and flour mills; the others inhabit the country. They are extremely voracious, and consume all sorts of provisions. The species pecu· liar to the l<'rench colonies are termed there Kakerlacs or Kaker- (1) Add F. bipunctata, Fab.: Panz., Faun. Insect. Germ., LXXXVIII, 10;-F. gigantea, I•'ab.; Herbst., Archiv. Insect., XLIX, 1; see Palis. de Beauv., Insect. cl' Afr. et d' A mer. The two species quoted, and all those which have not more than fourteen joints in the antenna:, compose my genus FonFICUL.A. proper-Faun. Nat. du Regn. Anim. Those which have more, such as the F. gigantea and others, form my genus FonFICESILA. All these Insects are winged. Those which are apterous form a third genus, that of CnELmounA.. Doctor Leach also divides the Dermaptera into tlll'ee genera: 1. Forficula, wilh fourteen joints in the antenmEi 2. Labidoura, with thirty; 3. Labia, with twelve. For further details respecting these Insects as well as for others of the s:lme ot·der, see the llort£ Entomologica: of M. Toussaint Charpentier. OHTUOl'TI<:RA. 7 laques, and are a source of continued irritation to the inhabitants on acc.ount of the devastation they occasion. They not only devour our articles of food, but attack cloth, linen, silk and even shoes. They also eat Insects. Cet·tain species of Sphex are constantly at war with them. B. orientalis, L.; De Geer, Mem. Insect., III, xxv, i, 7. Length ten lines; reddish chesnut-brown; wings of the male shorter than the abdomen; those of the female mere rudiments. The eggs of the latter at·e enclosed symmetrically in an oval and c.ompressed shell, first white, then brown, and serrated on one Side. The Insect carries it for some time at the anus and then fixes it by means of a gummy matter to various b;uies. This species is a scourge to the inhabitants of Russia and Finland. It is said to be originally from Asia, and according to some authors from South America. B. lapponica, L.; De Geet·, lb. 8, 9, 10. Blackish brown· margin of the thorax of a light gt·ey; elytra of the same colour: It attack3 the stock of dr·ied fish which the Laplanders use instead of bread. In Europe it inhabits the woods. B. americana, De Geer, lb., xliv, 1, 2, 3. Reddish· thorax yellowish with two brown spots and a margin of the :arne colour; abdomen reddish; very long antenna::.-America. M. Hummel, member of the Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosc., in the first ~umber of his Entomological Essays, has given us various interest-lOf g ob·s ervation.s on the history of the B • german••c a' Fab ., a speci· es o a hght reddish or fulvous colour, with two black lines on the thorax( I). MANTis, Lin. W~ere we ~lso _find five joints in all the tarsi, and wings simply plaited long1tudmally; but the head is exposed and the body narrow and elongated. They also differ from the Blattre in thei'r s h ort pa1 p 1• terminating in a point, and in their quadrifid ligula. F (? For the other species, see De Geer, lb.; Fab.; Oliv., Encyc. Method . ue s., .Arch. Insect., tab. xlix, 2-11; Coqueb., Dlust. Icon. Insect., Til, xxi, ~; B. pacifica, and Touss. Charpent., flora: Entomol., p. 71-78. As to the Blatta acervorum of Panzer, see the subgenus MYRMECOPIIII..A. of the following family Thos7 Dlat~a: in which one of the sexes at least is destitute of wings, such as th~ B. onentalUJ: and the B. limbata, and B. decipiens, of Hummel, in our Faun. Nat. du Reg. Amm., form the genus K.A.K:enuc. |
