370 FAMILY VI. - ACRIDID.E. - THE LOCUSTS. 



'MELANOPLUS AUSTRALis Morse, 1904a, 13. Southern Locust. 



, 

 Somewhat larger and more slender than decorus. Pale yellowish- 



green without fuscous markings on sides of abdomen. Postocular fuscous 

 stripe of female frequently subobsolete or interrupted by narrow oblique 

 yellowish-green fasciae. Hind femora of female often with upper and 

 outer faces in part infuscate; knees fuscous. Hind tibiae grayish-green. 

 the spines wholly black. Prozona one-half longer than metazona, the lat- 

 ter with surface distinctly reticulate-rugose, its hind margin broadly 

 rounded. Tegmina obovate, their tips broadly rounded. Supra-anal plate 

 much as in decorus, but wider, with apex more blunt, the subapical internal 

 ridges not converging as there but subparallel (Fig. 128, ft.) Furcula one- 

 third the length of supra-anal plate, feebly divergent, broad at base, ab- 

 ruptly narrowed near middle, then tapering on inner side to finger-like 

 tips. Cerci slender, three times as long as broad, the middle third one- 

 half or less the width of base, apical third stibspatulate. thin, feebly in- 

 curved, convex and slightly carinate externally, concave internally (Fig. 

 127, ft.) Upper margin of subgenital plate, viewed from above, broadly 

 rounded or horse-shoe-shaped, the plate with a blunt subapical tubercle be- 

 hind. Length of body, $, 16.4 22, 5, 23 27; of antenna?, $, 1213, 9, 

 89; of pronotum, $,5, 9, 6.2; of tegmina, J , 3.54.5, $, 55.7; of hind 

 femora, $ , 11.5, $ , 13 14 mm. 



Known only from South Carolina and Georgia. Morse's uni- 

 que male type was taken August 14 near Savannah, Ga., from a 

 ''tangled growth of grass, sedge, weeds, etc., on swampy ground." 

 R. & H. found it in numbers at Yemassee, S. Car., and Sandfly, 

 Ga., Sept. 3 and 4. They state (1916, 21G) that it is the most 

 brilliantly colored species of the group, ranging from lemon 

 chrome suffused with greenish or orange, to army-brown showing 

 a yellowish suffusion. The brighter colored individuals were 

 "taken on green plants, the duller ones among the yellowish and 

 brown fronds of the brackens. The males were active but not 

 alert, and were easy to capture, the females much less active and 

 usually met with in the heavier undergrowth where much greater 

 concealment was afforded." The species was found at Yemassee 

 among low swamp-loving plants in wet ground through the short- 

 leaf pine woods; while at Sandfly and Isle of Hope, Ga., it oc- 

 curred in tall rank succulent undergrowth such as patches of yel- 

 low and brown bracken ferns in swampy gray-bark pine woods. 



163. MELANOPLUS ATTENUATES Scuclder, 1897b, 13. Slender-bodied Locust. 

 Size medium; form very slender. Color much as in decorus and aus- 

 tralis; postocular black stripe confined to the prozona, strongly shining. 

 Sides of four or five basal segments of abdomen with large quadrate black 

 or fuscous blotches. Hind tibiae pale dull green, basal third tinged with 

 dull yellow, spines black, paler at base. Metazona densely punctate, less 

 rugose than in australis. Tegmina narrower, subelliptical, separated by 

 about one-third their width, their tips broadly rounded. Supra-anal plate 



