The Young Collector's Handbook of Ants, Bees, Dragon-flies, Earwigs, Crickets, and Flies / (Hymenoptera, Neuroptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera).

by W. Harcourt Bath

[Tribe III., Euplexoptera].—Hind wings with veins radiating from the apex of a horny piece occupying the base of the anterior margin.

The Euplexoptera, or Earwigs, are regarded by some authors as a separate order. They are thus treated by Westwood in his "Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects," but the modern tendency is to revert to the Linnæan system, and retain them among the Orthoptera.

Fig. 65.—Phasgonura Viridissima.

TABULAR VIEW
OF THE
PRINCIPAL FAMILIES OF THE ORTHOPTERA.

[Tribe I.—Cursoria.]
Family	1.	[Blattidæ or Cockroaches].
Family	2.	[Mantidæ or Praying Insects].
Family	3.	[Phasmidæ or Stick and Leaf Insects].
[Tribe II.—Saltatoria.]
Family	4.	[Achetidæ or Crickets].
Family	5.	[Gryllidæ or False Locusts].
Family	6.	[Locustidæ or True Locusts and Grasshoppers].
[Tribe III.—Euplexoptera.]
Family	7.	[Forficulidæ or Earwigs].

We will now proceed to describe each of these families in turn.

Tribe I.—Cursoria.

The insects constituting this group are distinguished by having their hind legs adapted for walking or running. They are subdivided into three families.

Family 1, Blattidæ.—This family includes the numerous species of cockroaches, or "black bats" as they are often called by uneducated persons. They are represented in all parts of the world, but are most abundant within the tropics, and especially in central and southern America, where also the largest and finest species are to be found. Many curious forms are also to be met with in India and different parts of Africa.