066 



FAMILY VI. - ACRIDID.E. - THE LOCUSTS. 



inai.) 



Iii Indiana this handsome short-winged form is the first locust 

 to reach maturity from eggs hatched in spring, a mature male 

 having been taken in Vigo County on May llth, and 

 a number of both sexes in Posey County on May 12th. 

 l!y -June 1st it is common locally, and by August 1st 

 has mostly disappeared. It frequents rather low. flat 

 woods and clearings, being found about the margins 

 of burned or bare places. 



On June 3, 1900, I happened upon a large colony 

 of riridiitcfi in an upland woods in Marion Co. They 

 were in an open, rather bare tract near the center of 

 the woods, which was surrounded by beech and black 

 maple trees. I took with the fingers, 40 of them in 20 

 minutes, and could have secured as many more. The 

 : males, when first disturbed, would lea]) two or three 

 feet, almost perpendicularly, for several times in rapid 

 succession, then give one or two sidewise leaps, and if still pur- 

 sued, endeavor to hide the head beneath a dead leaf. The females 

 were more clumsy and after giving one or two short leaps would 

 squat close to the ground, when they were readily taken. One 

 pair were mating and a number were yet in the nymph stage. On 

 June 1, 1902, I found the species abundant in the same place, and 

 again on June 5, 1904. In Lake Co. it was taken in a similar woods 

 on the west side of Cedar Lake. It probably occurs in suitable 

 localities over the greater portion of the State. 



East of Indiana typical viridijies has been recorded definitely 

 only from Vermont, Massachusetts and Ohio. In western New 

 England it is very scarce, occurring among low shrubby dry up- 

 land thickets. In Ohio Mead reported it as fairly common in 

 Franklin and Highland counties, and Hubbell (Ms.) reports it 

 from Washtenaw Co., Mich. Farther west the species is known 

 only from central and northwestern Illinois, where McXeill says 

 that "it shows a decided preference for open grassy ravines," and 

 from Nebraska, where Brunei- reports it as "found only occasion- 

 ally in woods along the Missouri Kiveiv" It is probably a much 

 more abundant species than the records show, its earl t y appear- 

 ance and sylvan habitat preventing it from being better knoAvn. 



As noted in the description, the cerci of the male riridipes 

 vary greatly in shape, not only in breadth but also in the degree 

 of the concavity of the dorsal margin, and therefore in the appar- 

 ent width of the apical expansion. Specimens are often taken in 

 which they are much stouter than there described, being less than 

 twice as long as wide at base, with both margins almost parallel 



