The Orthoptera are vegetable feeders, and frequently commit great ravages on various crops. They are divided into two groups, viz., those which run, and those which jump or leap. We will begin with those which run, which contains the Earwig (Forficula), the Cockroach (Blatta), the genus Mantis, or Leaf Insects, and the genus Phasma.
The Forficula, or Earwig, is represented in Figs. [298], [299], [300], in its three different states. The lower wings are very broad, and folded at the same time like a fan, and doubled up. Its abdomen terminates in a sort of pair of pincers, resembling those which the jewellers formerly used for piercing the ears of young girls as a preparatory step to their wearing ear-rings. Hence, without doubt, their French name of Perce-oreille, or ear-piercer; for there is nothing to justify the vulgar belief that these insects introduce themselves into the ear, and bore a hole into its interior, through which they may penetrate into the brain; in fact, they are very innocent insects, and do little harm. They live on vegetable matter, and more especially the interiors of certain flowers.
Figs. 298, 299, 300.—Common Earwig (Forficula auricularia)—larva, pupa, and imago.
The Forficulæ avoid the light. They are to be found in the chinks of trees, under bark, and under stones. The female watches over the eggs with maternal solicitude, and carries them away elsewhere when they are touched. She also protects the larvæ and pupæ till they are strong enough to dispense with all attention.
The Blattæ, or Cockroaches, are very destructive insects, as the name, derived from the Greek word Βλαπτειν, to damage, implies. They are omnivorous, attacking all sorts of dead substances, vegetable and animal. Horace reproaches them with devouring stuffs, like the moths:—
"Cui stragula vestis,
Blattarum ac tinearum epulæ,
Putrescit in arca."
These disagreeable insects devour our eatables, abounding in kitchens, in bakers' shops, on board merchant vessels, &c. Their flattened bodies allow them easily to introduce themselves into the cracks of cases or barrels; so that, to be safe against their attacks, it is necessary, on long voyages, to shut up the goods in zinc-lined boxes, or cases made of sheet-iron well soldered together.
Chamisso relates that the sailors having opened some barrels which should have contained rice and wheat, found them filled with German Cockroaches (Blatta Germanica). This transubstantiation was not very agreeable to the crew! Other naturalists have seen this insect invading by millions bottles which had contained oil. The Cockroach is very fond also of the blacking on boots, and devours leather and all. One pupa sometimes eats the skin cast off by another pupa, but a Cockroach has never been known to attack another with a view to eating him afterwards.