Orthoptera

“ The accessory glands of the vasa deferentia are tubes whose secretions either directly mix with the semen, or in many cases form seminal packets (spermatophores) . In Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera there is usually one pair. In many insects there are several pairs, as in Hydrophilidæ and Elateridæ; they are branched in Hemiptera, and in Orthoptera bushy. The single glandular tubules are very long, and form a skein-like mass. In Orthoptera, in the larger number of accessory glands, two forms may be distinguished, which differ from each other in their contents (Siebold) . ”

“ One of the most remarkable of the features of Orthoptera is that a great difference frequently exists between the colours of the tegmina and of the wings, i.e. the front and hind wings; the latter are concealed in the condition of repose, but when activity is entered on and they are displayed, the individual becomes in appearance a totally different creature. In some cases, contrary to what usually occurs in Insects, it is the female that is most remarkable; the male in Mantidae and Phasmidae being frequently a creature of quite inferior appearance and power in comparison with his consort. ”

“ One interesting effect of this power of stridulation among the Orthoptera is that it puts, or seems to put, a check upon a strong tendency to abortion of the organs of flight. The wings themselves are not affected, and in a large proportion of species are quite rudimentary. ”

“ The family Acridiidae includes a large part of the species that make up our meagre list of British Orthoptera. Indeed, the only native Orthoptera at the present time sufficiently common to attract general attention are, in addition to the earwig, the species of the genera Stenobothrus and Gomphocerus, whose musical instruments we have described previously. We have eight species of these Insects. They are the little grasshoppers, so common in our fields and gardens, the hunting of which is a source of much amusement to children. ”

“ More important characters of the Orthoptera than the nature of the wings—characters in which they differ from the Dermaptera and agree with the vast majority of winged insects—are the absence of distinct maxillulae and the presence of an unpaired ectodermal tube as the terminal region of the genital system in both sexes. The cerci are nearly always joined, and a typical insectan ovipositor with its three pairs of processes is present in connexion with the vagina of the female. ”

“ Of the three groups of the stridulating Orthoptera, the first is the section called Acridiodea, which produces a buzzing sound by the friction of the posterior femora, which are finely serrated inside (vide Darwin, 'Descent of Man,' 2nd ed. p. 286, fig. 14) , against the elytra. As the arrangement of the veins of that part of the elytra affected varies with the species, so does the intensity of the sound. It is a useful accomplishment, and to be able to determine the insect by its stridulation without seeing the performer is not very difficult. ”

“ As shown by the number and variety of species, the Orthoptera are the most dominant order of this group. Eminently terrestrial in habit, the differentiation of their fore-wings and hind-wings can be traced from Carboniferous, isopteroid ancestors through intermediate Mesozoic forms. The Plecoptera resemble the Ephemeroptera and Odonata in the aquatic habits of their larvae, and by the occasional presence of tufted thoracic gills in the imago exhibit an aquatic character unknown in any other winged insects. ”

“ Orthoptera, with very long delicate antennae composed of many more than thirty joints; hind legs longer than the others, thicker at the base. Tarsi with four joints. Front tibiae usually provided with tympanal organs placed below the knee; stridulating apparatus of males, when present, situate on the basal part of the tegmina. Females usually with an elongate exserted ovipositor, formed by the apposition of six pieces. Wingless forms numerous. ”

“ The Orthoptera include all those forms of insects which have four wings, the anterior pair being of a leathery nature. They are mandibulate; that is, their mouths are formed for biting, and they undergo an imperfect metamorphosis.
The insects comprised in this order are extremely numerous and destructive in the tropical parts of the world (Kirby gives their number as about 7,000) , but they are only represented in the British Isles by about sixty species, few of which are really abundant. They include the cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, earwigs, etc. ”

“ The elytra of the females are often much smaller than in the males, as their services are not required for musical purposes. But in the males, even if the wings are abortive and the elytra useless for flight, the basal part at least of the latter usually remains, sometimes very highly modified, for the purpose of performing stridulation. The comparative development of the organs of flight in the Orthoptera is such an inconstant character, that no species is based upon their abortion or perfect development. ”

“ Meinert thought that Lepisma must be included in the Orthoptera; Grassi proposes to consider the Thysanura as a distinct division of Orthoptera; and Oudemans recognises the close relations existing between Machilis and Orthoptera proper. Finot includes the Aptera in his Orthoptères de la France, and a species of Japyx has actually been described by a competent entomologist as an apterous earwig. At present, therefore, we must conclude that no good distinction has been found to justify the separation of the Aptera from all other Insects. ”

“ In the same manner as bright colours have often been partially transferred from the males to the females, so it has been with the extraordinary horns of many Lamellicorn and some other beetles. So again, the sound-producing organs proper to the males of the Homoptera and Orthoptera have generally been transferred in a rudimentary, or even in a nearly perfect condition, to the females; yet not sufficiently perfect to be of any use. It is also an interesting fact, as bearing on sexual selection, that the stridulating organs of certain male Orthoptera are not fully developed until the last moult ”

“ These insects belong among the orthoptera--an order including species whose transformations are less complete than in other groups, and whose larval and pupal forms are very active, and closely resemble the imago. Two pairs of large wings characterize the adult state, the first pair of which are somewhat thickened to protect the broad, net-veined hinder pair, which fold up like a fan upon the abdomen. The hind legs are large and adapted for leaping. ”

“ How do they get about, John?
Yes, indeed, they run, the rascals. They run fast too. They are flat and their six legs are very much alike. They are well built for running and hiding in cracks.
Suppose we call them the Running Orthoptera.
Now, look at our mantis. [Pg 109]
He does not run very much. How is he different from the others?
Ah, yes, he has big front legs, and little Nell says he grabs things with them.
So he does. Now, what shall we call these grabbers?
The Grabbing Orthoptera, Ned says. ”

“ In another group of Orthoptera, the Phasmidæ, occur a pair of dorsal prothoracic glands, each opening by a pore and present in both sexes. In the walking-stick, Anisomorpha buprestoides, ♂ and ♀, these openings are situated on each side of the prothorax at its upper anterior extremity, situated at the bottom of a large deep pit. When seized it discharged a “milky white fluid from the pores of the thorax, diffusing a strong odor, in a great measure like that of the common Gnaphalium or life everlasting” (Peale in Say’s American Entomology, i, p. 84) . ”

“ The Orthoptera are those insects whose wings fold longitudinally; they have two pairs, but the anterior pair are horny and serve as wing-cases to the posterior pair; their food is chiefly vegetable, but to many of their species any kind is acceptable, as their mouths are suitable for grinding-up hard substances. The Locusts (Locustidæ, fig. 21) , Grasshoppers (Gryllidæ) , Crickets (Achetidæ, fig. 16) , and Cockroaches (Blattidæ) , or Black-beetles, as they are sometimes incorrectly called, belong to this tribe. ”

“ As far as Lepidoptera are concerned, and certain of Hemiptera, they are right—the antennæ in these creatures are the seat of the organs of audition. But in Orthoptera, in most of Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera, and in certain bugs (Hemiptera) , they are located elsewhere. The habit that almost all insects have of retracting their antennæ when alarmed by noise, or otherwise, has done much to advance and strengthen the opinion that these appendages are the seat of insect ears ”

“ Some of the families of Neuroptera are similar in many points of structure and development to Insects of other Orders; thus Termitidae are somewhat allied to Blattidae, Perlidae to Phasmidae in Orthoptera, while the Phryganeidae or Trichoptera make a considerable approach to Lepidoptera. Some naturalists—among whom we may mention Burmeister and Grassi—unite our Aptera, Orthoptera, and most of our Neuroptera into a single Order called Orthoptera. Others treat our Neuroptera as consisting of eight or nine distinct Orders ”

“ While in the nymphs of Orthoptera the tracheæ very closely resemble those of the adult, in larvæ of insects with a complete metamorphosis the tracheæ differ very much in distribution from those of the adult. ”

“ The external features of the post-embryonic development—a term that is more convenient in connexion with Orthoptera than metamorphosis—are as follows: the wings are never present when the Insect is first hatched, but appear subsequently, and increase in size at the moults; the form and proportions of the segments of the body—especially of the thorax—undergo much change; an alteration of colour occurs at some of the moults, and the integument becomes harder in the adult condition. ”

“ Among the Orthoptera [76] we meet with some of the largest of insects, and particularly those which are of strange and extraordinary shapes. The best known insects of this order are the Mantes, Cockroaches, Earwigs, [77] Locusts, Grasshoppers, Crickets, &c.
The Orthoptera have the anterior wings long, narrow, half-horny. These are elytra, which serve as cases for their second wings, as is the case with the Coleoptera. But the elytra of the Orthoptera are less solid and less complete than those of the Coleoptera. ”

“ In the course of a special description of these sense-organs in the Orthoptera, Hauser describes at length those of Œdipoda cœrulescens and Caloptenus italicus. On one antennal joint of Caloptenus (Fig. 268) was often counted 50 pits; on the anterior joints the number diminishes to about 30. Hauser thinks that in all Orthoptera whose antennæ are like those of Caloptenus occur similar pits, as he found them in Stenobothrus (Fig. 269) as well as in Œdipoda. Gryllotalpa possesses similar pits,—four to six on each antennal joint, making between 300 and 400 pits on each antenna. ”

“ The order Orthoptera, including the Pseudoneuroptera (Ephemera, Libellula, etc.) appears to approach nearest to the primitive form of Insects. In favour of this view we have:—
1. The structure of their buccal organs, especially the formation of the labium, “which retains, either perfectly or approximately, the original form of a second pair of maxillæ” (Gerstäcker) . ”

“ Now, the majority of the Orthoptera quit the egg in a form which is distinguished from that of the adult Insect almost solely by the want of wings; these larvæ then soon acquire rudiments of wings, which appear more strongly developed after every moult. Even this perfectly gradual transition from the youngest larva to the sexually mature Insect, preserves in a far higher degree the picture of an original mode of development, than does the so-called complete metamorphosis of the Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, or Diptera, with its abruptly separated larva-, pupa- and imago-states. ”

“ Median 4: in Lepidoptera ( Pack.) , = cubitus 2 (Comst.) .
Median area: of wings in Orthoptera, lies between the radial and ulnar veins, radius and media (Comst.) : of meta-thorax of Hymenoptera, is the middle of the dorsum, divided into three spaces or cells; 1st or basal area, 2d or Lipper median or areola; 3d or apical or petiolar area.
Median carina: Orthoptera; of head, is usually applied to a median dorsal carina, but has been also used for that which extends down the middle of front from the fastigium, and then = frontal costa: of prothorax, extends along the middle of pronotum. ”

“ These are, among the Orthoptera, the best adapted for jumping. The thigh and the leg, folded together when at rest, are stretched out suddenly under the action of very powerful muscles. The body, resting then on the tarsi and on the flexible spines of the legs, is shot into the air to a great height. They fly very well, but the power of walking and running is denied to them, as it is also to the other Saltatoriæ. The females have no ovipositor. This peculiarity, and the formation of their antennæ, which are very short, distinguish the locusts from the grasshoppers. ”

“ The second maxillæ are very much differentiated and vary greatly in the different orders, being especially modified in the haustellate or suctorial orders, notably the Hymenoptera and Diptera. In the mandibulate orders, particularly the Orthoptera, where they are most generalized and primitive in shape and structure, they consist of the following parts: the gula (a postgula is present in Dermaptera) , submentum (lora of Cheshire, i, p. 91) , mentum, palpifer, the latter bearing the palpi; the lingua (ligula) and paraglossæ, while the hypopharynx or lingua is situated on the upper side. ”

“ The typical number of abdominal segments (uromeres) , i.e. that occurring in each order of insects, is ten; and in certain families of Orthoptera, eleven. In the embryos, however, of the most generalized winged orders, Orthoptera (Fig. 199) , Dermaptera, and Odonata, eleven can be seen, while Heymons has recently detected twelve in blattid and Forficula embryos, and he claims that in the nymphs of certain Odonata there are twelve segments, the twelfth being 163represented by the anal or lateral plates. ”