226 



FAMILY VI. ACRIDIDvE. THE LOCUSTS. 



mens taken but four were females, three of these be- 

 in^ of the green variety. Five of the males were also 

 partly green, the remainder brown and fuscous. 



In Florida 0. pelidna is a common insect every- 

 where throughout the mainland and on the adjacent 

 keys. It is also found in various parts of Cuba and 

 the Isle of Pines. About Dunedin it occurs in small 

 numbers throughout the winter but becomes more fre- 

 quent in February and March, when it is found espe- 

 cially in grassland which is becoming green, after 

 having been recently burned over. Some of the speci- 

 mens taken in such places are almost black, their hue 

 then corresponding very closely to that of the charred 

 and blackened soil. 



Fig. 8 5 . Fe- The range of 0. pelidna north of Florida is about 

 (After X L u'g - ^ wide as that of any other North American locust, it 

 having been recorded from various parts of New Eng- 

 land to Texas, New Mexico and Los Angeles, Cal. It is known 

 also from Sarnia, Ontario, Minnesota and Colorado, and between 

 the limits of these records it may be looked for anywhere. Morse 

 (1890, 409) states that in New England pelidna "begins to ap- 

 pear about the middle of July, being a week or two later than 

 specioso, and may be found during the remainder of the season. 

 It is an active and alert species, leaping well and also frying 

 freely and well, sometimes for two or three rods. It is found on 

 the drier portions of the land adjoining salt marshes, on the 

 more densely grassed portions of ground just inshore of the sandy 

 beaches, and on sandy or loamy soil farther inland." 



The only reference to the stridulation of pelidna which can be 

 found is by Walker ( 1902a, 252) as follows : "The males produced 

 a rapid, rattling sound when flying, like the various members of 

 the Oedipodime, but the sound did not last more than a second." 

 The 0. />r<!lonini Scudder (1899, 179, ISO) was separated from 

 pelidna only by the comparative length of the antenna? of male and 

 by the greater size ; his table giving "antenna? considerably longer 

 than head and pronoturn together" for pratonmi. and "no longer 

 or scarcely longer than head and pronotum together" for pelidna. 

 As K. & H. (1910a, 627) have pointed out, almost all eastern speci- 

 mens of what is generally known as pelidna would, by Scudder's 

 antennal character, fall under pratoruiu. Specimens at hand from 

 several localities sent in as pratorunt cannot be separated by any 



