| OCR Text |
Show 10 INSECTA. Those species in which the body is filiform or linear, resembling a stick, arc the PIIASMA, Fab. Several are altogether apterous, or have but very short elytra .. Very large ones are found in the Moluccas and South Amer1ca. The south of France produces the Ph. Rossia, Fa b.; Ross., Faun. Etrusc., II, viii, 1. Both sexes apterous; yellowish green or cinereous brown; antennre very short, granose, and conical; legs ridged; a tooth near the extre• mity of the thighs( l ). Those in which the body, as well as the legs, is much flattened and membranous, compose the genus . PHYLLIUM, Illig. I • Such for instance is the celebrated P. siccifolium; Mantis siccifolia, Lin. Fab.; Stoll, Spect., VIII, 24-26. Extremely flat; pale green, or yellowish; thorax short, with a dentated margin; dentated leaflets on the thighs. The female is furnished with very short antennre and elytra as long as the abdomen, but is destitute of wings. The male is narrower and more elongated, with long setaceous antennre, short elytra, and wings the length of the abdomen. This species is bred by the inhabitants of the Sechelles as an object of commerce. The male of another species is figured by Stoll, Mantes, pl. niii, 89. males :)It least are furnished with elytra. This division comprises two genera: PRrsopus, where the prothorax is shorter than the mesothorax, and where both sexes are provided with elytra and wings that cover the greater part of their ab· domen; and PnYLLIUM', where the prothorax is almost as long as the mesothoru; the females are destitute of wings and have very short antenna:, while the males have long ones and are winged, but with very short elytra. These individuals having the prothorax very long, in a natural order we should reverse the series, and begin with Phyllium. (1) For the other species, see the figure of Stoll, genus Spectrum,· Lichtenst., 'Monog. ~bnt.; Lin. Trans., VI, genus Phaama,· Lin. Trans., XIV; Palls. de Beauv. Insect. d' Afr. et d' Amer. See also Charpent., Hor. En tom., P· 93, 94. The two species of Phasma, described by the latter-rossium and gallicum-belong to the genus Bacillus, already mentiont:d· ORTIIOPTERA. 11 FAMILY II. · SALTATORIA. The posterior legs of the Insects which compose our second family of the Orthoptera, are remarkable for the largeness of their thighs, and for their spinous tibire, which are adapted for saltation. The males summon their mates by a stridulous noise, vulgarly termed singing. This is sometimes produced by rapidly rubbing against its antagonist an interior and more membranous portion of each elytron which resembles a piece of talc. It is sometimes excited by a similar motion of their posterior thighs upon the elytra and wings, acting like the bow of a violin. The greater number of the females deposit their eggs in the earth. This family is composed of the genus GRYLLus, Lin. Which we will divide thus: In some species where the musical instrument of the males consists of an interior portion of their elytra resembling a mirror or head of a drum, and where the females frequently have an extremely salient ovipositor, in the form of a stylet or sabre, we find antennre either more slender and minute at the extremity, or of equal thickness throughout, but very short and almost resembling a chaplet. The elytra and wings, in those few which have less than four joints to all the tarsi, are laid horizontally on the body. The ligula is always quadripartite, the two middle divisions being very small • . The labrum is entire. Sometimes the elytra and wings are horizontal; the wings, when at rest, form a kind of fillet or thong extended beyond the elytra, and the tarsi have but three joints, as in the genus GRYLLus, Geoff. Oliv.-.flcheta, ( Gryllus acheta, Lin.) Fab. They conceal themselves in holes, and usually feed on Insects. Se- |
