HABITS OP GROUSE LOCUSTS. 151 



basal; liiiul tarsi with three segments, the first usually longer 

 than I hi rd. The second very short. These various external parts 

 of a grouse locust are excellently shown in the accompanying fig- 

 ure from Hancock. The prouotuni varies much in length and 

 color, even in the adults of the same species, and much of the ear- 

 lier synonymy is due to a failure to recognize the long and short 

 prouotal forms or the color variations as belonging to the same 

 species. During the last moult the tegmina, which in the earlier 

 stages are hidden beneath the pronotum, take their place at the 

 side of the body in the superior posterior sinus and the wings 

 become folded and extended beneath the pronotal process. 



In Indiana these little Orthoptera are the only locusts which 

 pass the winter in the imago or mature stage. On the approach 

 of winter they hide beneath chunks, chips, rubbish, the loose 

 bark of logs, or beneath the bottom rails of old fences. Some- 

 times a warm sunny day in mid-winter tempts them forth in num- 

 bers, and on such occasions, the earth seems to swarm with them 

 as they leap before the intruder, their hard bodies striking the 

 dead leaves with a sound similar to that produced by falling hail. 

 If the winter is an open one, with alternate periods of thawing 

 and freezing, many of them doubtless perish. On the first warm 

 days of spring they can be collected by hundreds from any grass- 

 covered hillside having a sunny southern exposure, or from sandy 

 places along the margins of lakes and streams. 



Allard (1916) has aptly described their habits thus: "Small- 

 est of all the Acridiida 1 and among the most interesting are the 

 odd-shaped grouse-locusts. These tiny creatures, which leap al- 

 most as actively as fleas, are exceedingly difficult to discern in 

 their natural environment of earth and dead vegetation. As one 

 sweeps a net over the surface of the dry leaves in the woods there 

 is an audible rustling as the tiny creatures hop about very much 

 like tiny toads. At rest, their odd little bodies and sombre hues 

 of grays, yellows and browns assimilate them perfectly with the 

 mottled carpet of dried leaves, grasses, pebbles, bits of dead bark 

 and woods among which they dwell." 



Hancock (1002) has also written entertainingly of their habits 

 as follows : 



"The jump of the grouse locust is peculiar in that it is quick and in- 

 conspicuous and in this that it alights almost invariably on the ground 

 The young of the larger Orthoptera usually alight on grass or stems of 

 plants, dodging behind them for protection. The remarkable color of 

 these little Tetrigians, harmonizing in every instance with the soil, makes 



