OCR Text |
Show 14 INSECTA. The only species known-Blatta acervorum, Panz. Faun. In-sect. Germ., LXVIII, 24-Iives in ant-hills(l). . Sometimes the elytra and wings arc tectiform, and the tars1 are quadriarticulated. The antennre are always very long and setaceous. The mandibles are less dentated, and the galea is wider than in the Grylli. The females always have a projecting ovipositor, com-pressed, and in the form of a sabre. . . They have but two creca, like the preceding Insects, but the ~1hary vessels surround the middle of the intestine, and are inserted d1rectly into it. These Orthoptera are herbivorous anll form the genus LocusT A, Geoff. Fab.-Gryllus tettigonia, Lin. Such for instance are the L. viridissima, Fab.; Rres., Insect., II., Gryll., x, xi. Two inches long; green and immaculate; ovipositor of the female straight. L. verrucivora, Fa b.; Rres., lb., vur. An inch and a half long; brown; elytra spotted with brown or blackish; ovipositor of the female recurved. It bites with considerable severity, and it is said that the Swedish peasants are in the habit of making it bite the warts on their hands, and that in consequence of those excrescences receiving into the wound the black and bi· lious fluid poured into it by the Insect, they become desiccated and disappear. Several species of this genus are apterous, or have but very short elytra. Such is the L. ephippiger, Fab., Ross., Faun. Etrusc., II, viii, 3, 4(2). (1) It is the subject, if I mistake not, of a Memoir from the pen of M. Paul Sa vi. (2) This species, and some others, in which both sexes are almost apterous, or present at most but very short elytra resembling rounded and arched scales, form the genus El'Ull'l'IGER of my Fam. Nat. du. Regn. Anim. That of ANrsoP· TERA. is composed of species the males of which are winged, and the fema.les ap· terous or merely furnisheu with very short elytra; such are the L. dorsalUJ, bra· chyptera, of M. Toussaint Charpentier. The species provided with ordinary elytra and wings, in which the antenna: are simple, and the front is not elevateu pyra· midically, form the genus GnYLLUS proper. Such are the first two species above described. Add to them the Locusta varia, Fab.; Panz., lb., XXXIII, 1;-~· fusca, lb., ii;-L. clypeata, lb., iv;-L. denticulata, lb., v. His Gryllus prob08cl.deua, lb., XXII, 18, is the Panorpa ltiemalis. . .. See also De Geer, Ilerbstein, Donovan and Stoll, Santeralle fl sabre, pl. 1-,:u; Lat. , Gener. Crust. et Insect., III, p. 100. ORTllOPTERA. 15 Those species in which the males produce their stridulation only by rubbing their thighs against the elytra or wings, and whose females are destitute of a salient ovipositor, are distinguished from the preceding ones by their antennre, which are sometimes filiform and cylindrical, and sometimes ensiform or clavate, and always at least as long as the head and thorax; their elytra and wings are always tectiform or inclined, and their tarsi are triarticulated. They have five or six creca, and their biliary vessels, as in most of the order, are directly inserted into the intestine. The ligula of the greater number is merely bipartite. They all have three distinct simple eyes, the labrum emarginated the man- . ' <hbles multidentated, and the abdomen conical and compressed late-rally. They leap better than the preceding ones, fly higher and ~onger, ~nd feed voraciously on vegetables. They may be comprised m one smgle genus, that of AcnvniuM, Geoff. Which may be subdivided as follows: Some have the mouth exposed, the ligula bifid, and a membranous pellet between the terminal hooks of the tarsi. Such are PNEUMoRA, Thunb.-partim Gryllua bulla, Lin. Distinguished from the following by the posterior legs, which are sh~rter than the body, and less adapted for leaping, and by their vesicular abdomen, at least in one of the sexes. Their antennre are filiform. They are only found in the most southern part of Africa( 1 ). PRosooru, KIUg. Apterous Insects, with a long and cylindrical body; their bead, Those Grylli in which the front is elevated in the manner of a pyramid or cone have been generically distinguished by Thunberg under the name of CoNocEl'HALus. Fi~ally, the ScA.PuunlE of M". Kirby-Lin. Trans.; Encyclop. Mcthod.or my Penmcornes, resemble ordinary Grylli, but their antenna: are bearded infe· riorly, and their oviduct is scaphoid. For other genera, see Toussaint Charpentier, 'and the Mem. of the Imper. Aead. of St Petersburg, where Thunberg has established new generic sections. , (1) Pncu~nora sexguttata, Thunb., Act. Suec., 1775, vii, 3; Gryllu11 inanis, Fab.;-P. 1.mmaculata, Thunb., lb., vii, 1;-G. papillosus, Fab.;-P. m.aculata, Thunb., lb., vii, 2;-G. variolosu11, Fab. |