SUl'.FAM ILY V. GRYLLIX.E. 



705 



reddish-brown, never with the large reddish-brown spot so common in G. 

 luctuosus and pennsylvanicus ; cerci and hind tibiae dark chestnut brown. 

 Head no broader than pronotum; vertex prominent, straight, declivent. 

 Disk of pronotum about one-third wider than long, median impressed line 

 very distinct on apical three-fourths, front margin truncate, hind one 

 slightly* sinuate. Tegmina of female covering two-thirds of abdomen, 

 overlapping or attingent only on their basal halves, the apical halves with 

 inner margin obliquely rounded and therefore, in repose, widely separated, 

 Fig. 238. Tegmina of male usually covering three-fourths of abdomen, 

 rarely reaching its tip. Wings represented by narrow thin scales. Hind 

 femora short, stout. Hind tibia? armed above on each margin with five or 

 six spines. Inner subapical spines of basal joint of hind tarsus slender, 

 but little more than one-third the length of apical segment. Length of 

 body, $, 13 14, $, 15 16.5; of pronotum, $, 3.5, $, 4.2; of tegmina, $, 

 1 8, $, 7.5 8; of hind femora, $,10, 9, 11; of ovipositor, 10.5 11.5 mm. 

 Width of pronotum, .5, $,5.6 mm. (Fig. 238.) 



This shining black field cricket has been 

 taken in Crawford, Posey, Yigo, Putnam, 

 Marion, Marshall, Wells and Lake Counties, 

 Indiana, and probably occurs throughout the 

 State. It is here the first species of Gryllus 

 to become mature in the spring, the note of the 

 male the first Orthopteran song of the sea- 

 son having been heard on a number of occa- 

 sions in the central counties as earlv as May 



, / 



5th. The young of this species, as well as of 

 (I. pennsylvanicus j survive the winter as 

 nymphs. In September and October, after 

 passing the second or third moult, they seek 

 the shelter of loose bark on log or stum]), or 

 crawl beneath chunk or rail where they form 

 for themselves small, inverted cone-shaped 

 burrows in the earth, in which they abide un- 

 til spring. Those which attempt to pass the 

 winter with only a shelter of bark above them 

 almost always succumb to the changing temperatures of that sea- 

 sou, but those which choose more wisely a burrowing place be- 

 neath some half buried log or chunk for the most part survive. 

 The temperature of their hibernaculum is much more equable, 

 and the insects becoming sluggish in late autumn remain so until 

 called into new activity by the sunshine of spring, unless, mean- 

 while, they fall a prey to some shrew, mouse or other active win- 

 ter insectivorous mammal. They emerge from their hiding places 

 about April 1st, and after changing their garb two or three times, 



Fig. 238. Gryllus 

 vernalis nom. nov. Fe- 

 male X !- (Orig- 

 inal.) 



