6 OIITIICI'TKUA OF Nf 'ItTI I ;-:.\ STKIJN AMKUK'A. 



The subgenera and other minor groups of certain antlioi-s are 

 not <ienerally recognized in this work. Tn their place ami solely 

 to shorten and simplify the keys 1 have sometimes used ".groups" 

 or "series," usually without definite names, as they lead up more 

 easily and with less confusion to the main object sought the 

 scientific name of the specimen in hand. 



SYNONYMY OF SI-KCIKS. As already noted the synonymy of 

 many species of Orthoptera is greatly confused. This is due 1o 

 several causes, chief among which are the following: <i. Varia- 

 tion in tin 1 Jcii(//Ji of Ictjninni mill irlinjx. .These organs e.f flight 

 often vary exceedingly in individuals of the same species, thus 

 causing the insects to appear so different in general facies that 

 l>oth the long- and short-winged forms have been often desrri! 

 under different names: 1>. ~]'<irin1ion in color. Many of the 

 first described species Avere based mainly upon color characters 

 alone. As is well known, these are dependent largely upon local 

 environment ami are therefore usually unreliable in the fixing of 

 species. Where the habitat is essentially the same throughout a 

 large area tin 1 color is more stable and can then often be used as 

 ai; 'tanl specific or varietal character; c. Variation in tlic 



secondary </cniiaJ ort/anx. especially those of the male. The size 

 and form of certain abdominal appendages, as the male furcula 

 and cerci. the form of and degree of einargination of the subgen- 

 ital and supra-anal plates, the length, form and armature of the 

 ovipositor, have been much used in I he past as distinguishing 

 characters in the separation of species. En the majority of forms 

 these organs are fairly stable and can be satisfactorily so used, 

 but in some they vary greatly. This is especially true of the cerci 

 of the male and too many races, varieties and even species have 

 been founded upon slight differences in the structure of those 

 organs; <1. liricf a'cxcrijitionx of flic carlji Icnoirn . \nirricait *i>c- 

 r/V.s- />// European irrih'rx. A number of the more common Amer- 

 ican species of Orfhoplera were first described, usually in two or 

 three lines, by foreign authors who never saw the insects in the 

 field, and knew nothing of their distribution, habitat or varia- 

 tions. These brief descriptions were sufficient to enable their 

 authors to distinguish the species at hand from all others known 

 to them, but are wholly inefficient when it comes to separating 

 them from the large number of closely allied species now known. 

 The types of many of the species described by DeOeer, liurmeis 

 ter, Serville and even Saussure and Kedtenbacher, are destroyed 

 or inaccessible, so that it is often impossible to state what form 



