. British insects : a familiar description of the form, structure, habits, and transformations of insects. the name of the order towhich the earwigs belong, viz.,EuPLEXOPTERA {iv, well, TrXeKToc, folded ; irT^pov, wing). For figures of Order II., Euplexoptera, see Plate IV.,fig. 1. To the earwig, the grasshopper, cricket, locust, and cock-roach (or blackbeetle of our kitchen) succeed. Resemblingthe earwig in the fan-like folding of the hind wing, theydijBTer from it in having no transverse folding (fig. 18), andfrom this character of the p. jg ?wing is derived the nameof the order under whicht
. British insects : a familiar description of the form, structure, habits, and transformations of insects. the name of the order towhich the earwigs belong, viz.,EuPLEXOPTERA {iv, well, TrXeKToc, folded ; irT^pov, wing). For figures of Order II., Euplexoptera, see Plate IV.,fig. 1. To the earwig, the grasshopper, cricket, locust, and cock-roach (or blackbeetle of our kitchen) succeed. Resemblingthe earwig in the fan-like folding of the hind wing, theydijBTer from it in having no transverse folding (fig. 18), andfrom this character of the p. jg ?wing is derived the nameof the order under whichthese insects are ranged;namely, Orthoptera, orstraight - winged [opOog,straight; irrepov, a wing.)The fore wings, althoughmuch thickened, are less thick and horny than those ofeither the beetles or the earwig, and are useful in flight. And here we come upon a most curious little appara-tus. The merry chirp of the house cricket and of thegrasshopper are amongst our most familiar sounds, yetfew inquire the nature of the instrument by which thelittle creature produces its pleasant music. This, the pri-. Wing of Grasshopper {A cridaviridissima). 44 INSECTS. mitive violin—with bow, string, and sounding-board,—is to be found in the fore wings. This instrument is most conspicuous in the consists of a clear space in the wing-cases, or fore-wing, consisting of a tense membrane enclosed by strongand prominent nervures ; near this lies a strong nerve orridge, with a toothed, file-like surface. This file (theboiv), most prominent on the upper surface of the wingwhich underlies, and on the under surface of that whichoverlaps, plays, when the wings are rubbed together,upon the raised ribs, causing a strong vibration in thedrum-like membrane, or sounding-board, beside them,and thus producing the sound. Figure 1 9 shows the drum and file (or sounding-board Fig. 19.
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Keywords: ., bookauthorme, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectinsects
