ORTHOPTERA 



Si 



FIG. 98. The red-legged locust. 

 (Natural size) 



(After Riley) 



The short-horned grasshoppers, or locusts (Acrididae). The word 

 grasshopper ' is an American term for the insects which in the 



Old World are called locusts, as they 

 are termed in the Biblical account of 

 the Egyptian plague of locusts. The 

 locusts include all of our more com- 

 mon grasshoppers, which have the 

 antennae shorter than the body, and 

 a short ovipositor. Many of them are 

 seriously injurious. Their structure 

 and life habits have already been sufficiently discussed (Chaps. V, 

 XVI), so that we shall merely consider a few of the more common 

 and important forms. The 

 most common throughout 

 the East is the small red- 

 legged locust (Mclanoplns 

 fcmnr-nibrnin} and the 

 nearly related lesser migra- 

 tory locust (Mclanoplns at- 

 lantis), hardly distinguish- 

 able from each other by the 

 casual observer, both of 

 which are abundant in our pastures, and often do serious injury to 

 grass and garden crops. One of the most common forms east of 



l-'u;. 99. Two-striped grasshopper {Melanaplus 



(Natural size) 



(After Riley) 



FIG. 100. The bird grasshopper, or American locust. (Natural size) 



(After Riley) 



the Rockies is the Carolina locust, which flies up along the roadside 

 and in waste places where it lives. It closely matches its surroundings 



