SUBFAMILY V. GRYLLIX.K. 6 ( J7 



bin-rows are generally forsaken about mid-summer for some sort 

 of above-ground shelter. From this time on, until fall, they ap- 

 pear to be more social and live in colonies under various sorts of 

 rubbish. Grain shocks are a favorite haunt for them and since 

 twine has been used for binding, the crickets have been quite 

 troublesome by cutting the bands. During late summer and fall 

 the females commence preparations for the continuance of their 

 kind, by thrusting their long, slender ovipositors into the loose 

 soil and dropping their eggs. These sometimes hatch the same 

 year, but, as a rule, lie over until the following spring. The young- 

 general ly live above ground, where they hide among fallen leaves, 

 grasses and other debris, though sometimes they also creep into 

 chinks and crevices in the earth." 



The remarks of Brunei- apply in Indiana mostly to the form 

 luctuosus, one of our largest and only social field cricket. Here 

 the young of G. pennsylvanicus and rernaUs are, for the most 

 part, hatched in autumn and survive the winter in the nymph 

 stages, while G. cloutcsticiis, the house cricket, passes the winter 

 either as adult or nymph. 



The synonymy of the American forms of this genus is greatly 

 confused, due largely to the fact that foreign writers have at- 

 tempted to monograph the genus with but a limited number of 

 specimens at hand ; and again to the fact that the different forms, 

 especially the males, are very difficult to separate. 



Lutz (1908) after studying carefully the variations in length 

 of tegmina, wings and ovipositor of a large number of forms of 

 Gri/llns from all parts of the world concluded that "species in an 

 any way natural sense do not exist in the genus." R. & H. (1915c) 

 came to about the same conclusion regarding the native American 

 forms, placing them all under the one name, Gryllus assiiniJis Fab. 

 (1775, 280) described from Jamaica, qualifying this placement, 

 however, by stating (p. 299) : "We have found that in general 

 certain types do predominate over certain regions. These con- 

 stitute the bases of many of the supposed species but in our 

 opinion should be characterized by symbols rather than varietal 

 names, owing to their complexity and the evident fact that none 

 of these are distinct, either specifically or as geographic races, 

 and really show only the various phases resultant from varied 

 environmental conditions-" 



There is no doubt but that the different forms of native GnjUus 

 intergrade and merge, just as do those of Noinotctti.r <-rist<itnx, 

 Neiiiobhis fasciatus and numerous other forms of Orthoptera for 



