SUBFAMILY I. PHANKROPTKKINM:. 459 



in length as to genus, the front and middle ones always much 

 shorter than the hind pair; ovipositor and male genitalia variable 

 as to genus. 



These "round-headed" and "bush katydids" are mostly arbo- 

 real in habitat, the great majority of them passing their entire lives 

 on shrubs and trees, where they feed upon the leaves and tender 

 twigs, and, when present in numbers, often do much injury. The 

 color and form of their wings serve admirably to protect them 

 against their worst foes, the birds; and as they live a solitary life, 

 i. e., do not flock together in numbers as do the green or meadow- 

 grasshoppers, they are but seldom noticed by man. Their love 

 calls, or songs, however, make the welkin ring at night from mid- 

 July until after heavy frost, and though but one or two of the spe- 

 cies make a note in any way resembling the syllables "katy did, she 

 did," yet all are accredited with this sound by the casual observer, 

 and hence the common name usually given to the members of this 

 subfamily. Their call is seldom made by day for the obvious rea- 

 son that it might attract the attention of the birds and so lead to 

 the destruction of the songster. As twilight approaches, however, 

 the male of each species begins his peculiar note, which is often 

 kept ii]) with little or no intermission until the approach of day 

 warns him that his feathered enemies will soon be on the alert, 

 and that silence will be, for a time, the best policy to pursue. 



From the other Locustida?, these katydids differ widely in their 

 habits of oviposition. The eggs are rarely deposited in the earth 

 or in twigs, but are either glued fast in double rows to the outer 

 surface of slender twigs, or are inserted in the edges of leaves. 

 On account of this method of oviposition, the ovipositors of the 

 katydids are broader, more curved, and more obtuse at the end 

 than in the other subfamilies, whose members oviposit in the 

 earth, in rotten wood or in stems of grass. 



The subfamily is represented in the eastern states by eight 

 genera, the principal literature treating especially of their species 

 being as follows: Riley, 1874; Brunner, 1878; Scudder, 1893, 

 1898; Blatchley, 1893, 1903; Saussure & Tictet, 1897189!); Relm 

 & Hebard, 1914, 1914a, 1914b, 1916; Rehn, 1917. 



KEY TO EASTERN GENERA OF PHAXEKOPTERIX.E. 



a Hind legs nearly or fully four times as long as body (Fig. 151); pro- 

 notum saddle-shaped, its hind margin obtuse-angled; eyes oblong- 

 oval, nearly twice as long as wide. I. ARETII.-EA, p. 4GO. 

 aa. Hind legs at most tess than three times as long as body; pronotum not 

 saddle-shaped, its hind margin broadly rounded ; eyes usually glo- 

 bose, at most but one-half longer than wide. 



