SUBFAMILY III. LOCUSTINvK. 44:3 



the middle of August and continues into October, varying, of course, ac- 

 cording to latitude and climatic conditions. Usually, but not always, only 

 a single cluster of eggs is deposited by each female. Frequently there are 

 two, and in extreme cases perhaps even three of these clusters deposited 

 by a single female. One hundred and seventy-five eggs have been counted 

 in a single mass." 



Riley (1878, 223) states that around Dallas, Texas, Boll 

 "found the eggs of diffcrcntialis very numerously placed under 

 the bark of elm and hackberry logs that had been felled in low 

 land." 



Finally, quoting in part from Scudder and Bruner, this giant 

 Mclanoplns is certainly occasionally one of the most destructive 

 pests of the Upper Mississippi Valley States, having been noted 

 as injuring grass, alfalfa, Indian corn, beets, orchard trees, mul- 

 beny, poplar and catalpa trees, and even grape vines. Dahlias, 

 hollyhocks and other garden flowers have also been specified as 

 its food, not to mention the greater rag-weed, Ambrosia trifida. 

 It is one of the few species of locusts that has thus far shown 

 a tendency toward civilization. This it has done readily, since 

 its habits are in unison with the cultivation of the soil. It is 

 only since the settlement of the country where it originally oc- 

 curred that it has multiplied so as to become sufficiently numer- 

 ous as to become a serious pest. 



The variation in color and structure of differential Is is very 

 slight for a locust of such wide range. Scudder says that in Cali- 

 fornia occasional specimens are found having the hind tibire bright 

 coral-red, and Gillette states that in Colorado individuals that are 

 black, except for yellow bands upon the legs and light posterior 

 lateral margins of pronotum, are sometimes taken. This lack of 

 variation and large size leads to its easy identification, and it is 

 one of the few older described Melanopli which has no synonyms. 



20G. MELAXOPLVS CLYPEATUS (Scudder), 1S77, 40. Shield-tailed Locust. 



Size large for the genus, medium for the group; form robust, the 

 sexes subequal. General color dull brownish-yellow, the usual postocular 

 dark stripe represented by a very narrow streak, or obsolete. Color of 

 tegmina as described in key. Hind femora stout, outer face dull yellow, 

 often suffused with fuscous, inner face yellow with black bars, lower face 

 coral-red. Hind tibias dull red, paler at base, the spines wholly black. 

 Interocular space narrow for the group, not as wide as frontal costa in 

 either sex, slightly depressed centrally in both sexes. Fastigium gently 

 sloping, broadly and shallowly concave. Frontal costa rather wide, deeply 

 and briefly concave below the ocellus, its margins feebly convergent below 

 in female. Pronotum as described under the series heading and tegmina 

 as in key. Supra-anal plate with median sulcus percurrent, rather shal- 

 low, narrowing apically. Cerci stout, the basal three-fifths slightly longer 



