SUBFAMILY III. LOCUSTIX.E. 441 



part nielanistic. In autnnm it is common on the lawns, vacant 

 lots and sidewalks of Indianapolis, and in 11)18, together with 

 .)/. fcntur-ruhnini and lirittutux, did a vast amount of damage 

 throughout the State to clover and other forage crops. 



In Indiana, this lubberly locust delights in low, damp waste 

 places, such as the margins of lakes and ponds, the borders of 

 streams, fence rows and the margins of low-laud cultivated fields. 

 It is especially fond of the greater rag weed, Ambrosia trifida L., 

 of the river bottoms, and is often seen by scores feeding upon its 



Fig. 149. Male. X I -5- (After Lugger.) 



leaves, or mating among its foliage. The various species of smart- 

 weed, Poli/yonum, which grow in shallow water, are also much 

 frequented by it in early autumn. Occasionally vast numbers are 

 seen along the edge of a field of low-land corn, the leaves of the 

 marginal rows of which they have almost wholly destroyed. When 

 a stalk is approached they do not desert it but dodge quickly 

 around to the opposite side, much as does a squirrel around the 

 trunk of a tree when pursued. If, however, one takes alarm and 

 jumps, all the others in the immediate vicinity do likewise. 



In late autumn, as night approaches, this locust, as well as 

 M. fciiiHr-rubriiin and other species, often climb or fly to the tops 

 of high weeds where, sheltered by the leaves, they cling to the 

 stems or branches until the sun warms them up the next day. If 

 the night is cool or frosty one can pick them off these weeds by 

 scores in early morning. I have often gathered them thus for 

 bait, getting all I needed in a few minutes for an entire day's 

 fishing. 



On one occasion a specimen of differential is was found feed- 

 ing upon a dead example of DicJironiorpJm riridis, half or more of 

 the abdomen of the latter having been devoured. The Logger- 

 head shrike, Lanius litdariciainis L., catches many of these and 

 other locusts and often impales them on the barbs of wire fences. 

 On one October day I gathered fully a pint of such impaled insects 

 from a fence row half a mile long, and found that they repre- 

 sented sixteen species ; eight of grasshoppers, two of katydids, and 



