SUBFAMILY III. LOCUSTIN^E. 361 



New England and the southern States the short-winged forms are 

 much the more numerous. Where a species is dimorphic in wing- 

 length, the long-winged individuals appear to be more numerous 

 toward the northern part of its range and the brachypterous to- 

 ward the southern. This is probably due, in part at least, to the 

 length of the season and the consequent food supply, the short 

 northern summers necessitating a mobility not possessed by the 

 brachypterous forms. 



As already noted, the form of supra-anal and subgenital plates 

 and that of the cerci and furcula in Mel(tn<t)tltii< are exceedingly 

 variable, even in the same species, and the number of described 

 nominal species and races, based mainry upon the variations of 

 these abdominal organs, is entirely too great. The eastern species 

 of this Division are grouped into seven Series as follows: 



KEY TO EASTERN SERIES OF SHORT-WINGED MELAXOPLUS. 



. Hind tibiae green, glaucous, or greenish-yellow, never red; tegmina 

 rarely as long as pronotum, usually distinctly shorter, their dorsal 

 margins well separated, rarely (Series I,) attingent or feebly over- 

 lapping; median carina of pronotum low but usually distinct 

 throughout. 



b. Prosternal spine conical or subcylindrical, its tips usually bluntly 

 rounded, sometimes subacute; tips of tegmina broadly rounded. 

 c. Hind tibiae pale to bright green; furcula minute, shorter than 

 the last dorsal segment to which they are attached, the basal 

 third not widened or thickened (PI. Ill, c, e) ; prosternal 

 spine short, stout, conical. SERIES I, p. 362. 



cc. Hind tibiae glaucous or dull greenish-yellow; furcula as long as, 

 usually much longer than the last dorsal segment, their basal 

 thirds or more usually either widened or thickened. 

 d. General color greenish-yellow or pale brown; hind femora 

 without fuscous bars on upper face; sides of pronotal disk 

 subparallel, male, feebly divergent on metazona, female; 

 prosternal spine rather slender, subcylindrical, its tip 

 bluntly rounded. SERIES II, p. 367. 



dd. General color dark reddish- or grayish-brown ; upper face 

 of hind femora usually obliquely bifasciate with fuscous; 

 sides of pronotal disk strongly divergent behind in female; 

 prosternal spine stouter, subconical, its tip rounded or sub- 

 acute. SERIES III, p. 372. 

 1>1). Prosternal spine prominent, broad, flattened cylindric, the apex 

 blunt, broadly rounded, usually transversely excised; tips of 

 tegmina subtruncate, females, rarely broadly rounded, males; 

 furcula shorter than the last dorsal segment or wholly want- 

 ing, rarely (strumosus) nearly half the length of supra-anal 

 plate. SERIES IV, p. 379. 

 aa. Hind tibiae wholly or in great part red. 55 



B5 Rarely and abnormally dull greenish-yellow, the tegmina then distinctly longer than 



intinrt 



pronotum. 



