192 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



having tended greatly to confuse the student, that the family name Locustidae should 

 have come to be confined to the insects of the preceding family, which are properly 

 called in common language grasshoppers, katydids, etc., whereas the popular term 

 locust is more correctly applied to the insects of the family now under consideration. 



The Acrididae reside for the most part on the ground, and are distinguished from 

 those of other families of saltatorial Orthoptera by the following characters : The 

 antennas are comparatively short, never exceeding the body in length, and as a rule 

 composed of from twelve to twenty-five joints, though in a few species there are but 

 seven or eight. The tarsi are apparently three-jointed. The abdominal appendages 

 in the male are generally small and short, but the ovipositor in the female consists of 

 two pairs of short, corneous pieces, one pair curving upward, the other downward, 

 and together well adapted to drilling holes for the reception of the eggs. The male 

 is without the stridulating organ at the base of the wings which is found among the 

 Locustidae. They nevertheless stridulate more or less perfectly, and principally by 

 friction of the hind thighs against the hardened border of the elytra. 



The eggs of locusts are elongate and cylindrical, and laid somewhat regularly in a 

 mass in the ground, the number varying from about thirty to a hundred and fifty 

 or more, according to the species. Locusts occur in all parts of the world, and vary 

 from one-fourth of an inch to four or five inches in length. They are either wingless 

 or with well developed wings capable of sustaining flight for many hundred miles with- 

 out resting. The transformations are essentially the same throughout the family, and 

 details will be found in the ensuing account of Caloptenus spretus, our most injurious 

 species. 



For convenience, the family has been divided into minor groups or sub-families by 

 entomologists ; and the number and arrangement of these sub-divisions varies greatly 

 with different authors. The Tettiginae or Grouse-locusts are all small species in which 

 the pronotum or thoracic shield is greatly enlarged posteriorly into a projection as long 

 as or longer than the wings. These small locusts are most commonly found in low, wet 

 meadows, and on the borders of water-courses, where their habits are very similar to 

 those of the different species of Tridactylus, to which they bear a slight resemblance. 

 They are very active and possess great leaping powers, but their dull, gray colors 

 render them inconspicuous and often even quite difficult to observe. They hibernate 

 under leaves and rubbish, either as pupae or in the perfect state, and are among the very 

 first of insects seen in early spring on sunny slopes after the snow has 

 disappeared. Tettix granulata, or the Granulated Grouse-locust, is 

 found throughout the northern portion of this country, where it reaches 

 a latitude almost to the Arctic circle. Tettix ornata, which is a some- 

 what smaller species, is also widely distributed, having been taken in 

 Canada, and as far southwest as Texas. Tettix subulata is an oriental 

 insect. It is found throughout Europe from Lapland and Norway to 

 FIG. 268. Tetux the Alps. In these mountains it reaches an altitude of between nine 



granulata, gran- 

 ulated grouse- and ten thousand feet above sea level. It also occurs sparingly as far 

 locust. r J 



south as Italy and Spain, and its eastern range extends far into the 

 interior of Asia. All the species of this genus vary greatly in their color. A 

 second and closely allied genus ( Tettigidea) occurs in North America, the members 

 of which are proportionately larger and more robust than those of the genus just 

 described. Tettigidea lateralis, the female of which is about one-half inch, and the male 

 one-third of an inch in length, is confined to the central and eastern portion of the 



