The young Orthoptera look like the old ones, only they have no wings.
They hatch out of the egg with a head, a six-legged thorax, and an
abdomen.
Now, come, let us look at all of our orthopterous friends again,
cockroaches first.
[Illustration]
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.
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.
[Illustration]
So he does. Now, what shall we call these grabbers?
The Grabbing Orthoptera, Ned says.
Suppose we say instead the _Grasping Orthoptera_, because grasping
sounds a little better than grabbing. Do you not think so?
[Illustration]
Now for Mr. Walking Stick.
We cannot very well call him a member of the Running Orthoptera, can we?
Ah, Mollie has it. We must call his kind the _Walking Orthoptera_.
His six legs are all long and slender, and he moves them slowly.
[Illustration]
Now for those fellows with the long hind legs, the locusts and katydids
and crickets. Yes, all of you are ready to name them.
We call them--what?
May says, the Hopping Orthoptera.
John thinks Jumping Orthoptera would sound better.
And that is what we name them, the _Jumping Orthoptera_.
How many kinds of Jumping Orthoptera are we acquainted with, Ned? Now,
think before you speak.
He says we know the shorthorned grasshoppers, or locusts, the
longhorned, or meadow, grasshoppers, and the crickets.
Very well done, Ned.
May wants to know what has become of the katydids and the cricket-like
grasshoppers--she thinks Ned has left them out.
Ned says they belong to the longhorned grasshoppers.
Now you shall have a list of the Orthoptera that will help you to
remember them.
If we can group together things that are like each other, it is easier
to remember them.
ORDER ORTHOPTERA.
_Running Orthoptera._
Cockroaches, Croton Bugs.
_Grasping Orthoptera._
Praying Mantis.
_Walking Orthoptera._
Walking Sticks.
_Jumping Orthoptera._
Shorthorned Grasshoppers, or Locusts.
Longhorned, or Meadow, Grasshoppers.
Crickets.
There are a great many species of Orthoptera in the world, and we have
seen but a very few of them.
But I can tell you, we feel a little better acquainted with you
orthopterous fellows than we did.
The dragon fly says we have not given him a place.
But, dear dragon fly, you belong to another family. You are not an
orthopterous insect.
Your order is called the ODO-NA-TA.
The wings of the Odonata are very different from those of the
Orthoptera.
[Illustration]
You remember how they are?
Yes, Ned, they are stiff and covered with a close network of fine veins,
and all four of them are alike.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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