SUBFAMILY III. I.OCrSTIX.K. 359 



most colorless; hind femora moderately long; and slender, usually 

 reaching' tip of abdomen, female, surpassing it, male; cerci of 

 male exceedingly variable in form, often enlarged at apex, rarely 

 styliform, and usually about the length of supra-anal plate; fur- 

 cula usually present and developed to a variable extent, also vari- 

 able in form, so that they and the cerci furnish characters much 

 used in separating the species one from another; ovipositor usu- 

 ally strongly exserted. 



This genus comprises more species than does any other of the 

 North American Orthoptera, no less than 140 having been listed 

 by Scudder (1000) from the United States and Canada, and treat- 

 ed by him in his "Revision of the Melanopli'' and its supplement. 

 Of the distribution of the species he says (1897, 123) : '"The genus 

 Melanoplus, so richly endowed with species, is naturally very 

 widely distributed, though so far as known it is completely con- 

 fined to the continent of North America and does not occur, so 

 far as reported, south of Mexico. Within this region it is as wide 

 spread as all the other genera of Melanopli combined, extending 

 from the Arctic Circle in Alaska and on the Mackenzie River, and 

 from northern Labrador and perhaps southern Greenland on the 

 north to the extremity of Florida and southern Mexico on the 

 south, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is, however, far 

 richer in species in the west than in the east." Since 1900 numer- 

 ous species have been described, and Kirby (1910, .~>09 i listed 202 

 species of the genus from North America, including Mexico. From 

 the territory covered by the present work 51 species and 10 varie- 

 ties are recognized. Some of these, to the casual observer, may 

 seem very similar in size, color and general appearance, but a 

 close examination of the abdominal appendages of the male will 

 at once prove their distinctness. The tyro will probably have 

 much difficulty in separating the females of the different species; 

 in fact, he can only do so by taking the two sexes in the field, 

 where they are usually to be found associated together. 



While dull colored and uninteresting to most people, the mem- 

 bers of this genus form the most characteristic group of our Acri- 

 dida\ To it belong our most common locusts and the ones which 

 do the most injury. From mid-May until late November in the 

 latitude of Indiana they leap from our pathway in numbers, 

 whether we stroll through open woodland, sunny meadow, or along 

 the roadside; while in the back yards and on the lawns of our city 

 homes they swarm in great profusion. 



The Kansas or Rocky Mountain locust. .]f<-l<ni<tii!iiK .s-/>.'v//.<? 

 (Thos. | belongs to this genus but does not occur cast of the Mis- 



