216 FAMILY VI. ACRIDID.E. THE LOCUSTS. 



Ontario, Banff, Alta., northern Minnesota and northern Colo- 

 rado, south and southwest to A 7 irginia, North Carolina and north- 

 western Arkansas. In Virginia and North Carolina it is mainly 

 confined to the mountainous regions. In Pennsylvania Fox re- 

 cords it (1914, 493) as "typically a denizen of moist woodland, 

 frequenting grasses and sedges around wet depressions," a habitat 

 widely at variance with that noted by me in Indiana and Con- 

 necticut. The long-winged form, prima Morse (189G, 420) is very 

 scarce, not over a dozen specimens, all females, having been re- 

 corded. 



Of its habits near Pequaming, Mich., Kehn (1904d), quoting 

 Hebard, says : "The females are very easy to capture when found. 

 They are, of course, unable to fly, and their jump lacks entirely 

 the elasticity so characteristic of the males, the latter being about 

 the best jumpers of any of the Orthoptera found in the eastern 

 United States. They have a powerful spring, but it is their quick- 

 ness which renders them so difficult to capture. When alarmed, 

 they are not content with one spring to a place of apparent safety, 

 but jump about with such speed that they can hardly be followed 

 with the eyes, and never cease their rapid succession of jumps 

 until deep under the nearby vines, twigs or dead grasses, where 

 they cannot be induced to stir, and owing to their color are per- 

 fectly safe. I have never seen a specimen where there was not a 

 thick tangle somewhere near in which to hide. I was only able 

 to catch them by listening until one of the musicians gave his 

 tsikk-tssikk-tssikk,, which was always lustily delivered ; then ap- 

 proaching within a few feet I would wait, knowing that, if not as 

 yet alarmed, the sound would be repeated in a few seconds. If my 

 approach had been sufficiently stealthy, the musician would at 

 length disclose his position by giving a cautious tsik. Pouncing 

 upon him while busy stridulating, I could usually take him before 

 he could get in position to spring. So keen and shy are they, 

 however, that often, after a careful advance, occupying several 

 minutes, the singer would notice me when still several feet dis- 

 tant, and would not again make a sound, no matter how long I 

 remained motionless." 



Interesting accounts of the egg-laying habits of the female of 

 conspersa have been given by both S. I. Smith (1868, 146) and 

 Scudder (1874, 372). I have, on a number of occasions, noted the 

 females with the abdomen inserted in soft or decaying wood, and 

 once in Vigo Co., Ind., on August 11, a female was discovered in 

 the act of boring a hole in the upper edge of the topmost board of 



