NOTES AND ADDITIONS: ORTHOPTERA. 61 



to be no motion. The species, in addition to these differences in stridulation and habits, 

 may be distinguished, from nieens by the following characters: 



(EcANTHUS LATIPEXNIS N. Sp. White, the elytra of the 9 sometimes grayish and 

 the posterior femora in one specimen discolored. Antenna; immaculate, with the basal 

 joints and the front of head usually roseate. Tip of ovipositor black. Prouotnm as in 

 niveus. Hind wings 9 as long at the elytra or sometimes a trifle longer ; of $ some- 

 what shorter than elytra. Elytra of 9 irregularly reticulate between the parallel 

 oblique veins, especially toward the base. Elytra of $ when unfolded f as wide as 

 long, the dorsal surface 14 mm to 16.5" im long by 7 mm to8 mm wide ; the rasp 1.5 mm long 

 and the teeth distinctly seen with a lens of low power. Ovipositor 6 mm long ; sub- 

 genital plate broadly excavated. Cfaspers of $ with their tips broad, but slightly 

 broader at base than at tip, not deeply separated. 



Described from 15 $ 9 specimens from Missouri, 1 $ from Alabama, and 1 $ from 

 South Texas. 



The form of the subgenital plate, the immaculate antenna? with their roseate base, and 

 the larger size serve to distinguish the species as well in the pupa as in the imago state. 



(E. latipennis is a larger insect than nii'cus usually is. The ovipositor measures 6 mm 

 in length, whereas in niveits it rarely exceeds 5 mm and in only one specimen, a san- 

 guineous variety captured July 10, 1874, does it equal 6 mm . The male elytra of niceus 

 in only one specimen, captured September 19, 1877, reach 13 mm in length by 6 nim in, 

 width on the upper face, and the size is generally much less. In niveus the unfolded 

 male elytra are less than f, and usually only , as wide as long, and the rasp is only 

 l mm long, and the teeth are not so easily seen. The elytra of niveus female sometimes 

 show an irregularity in the reticulation between the parallel oblique veins but never 

 so great an irregularity as in latipennis, there being fewer cells. In only one specimen 

 of latipennis, a male taken on cotton at Columbus, Tex., are there any black marks on 

 the lower surface of the basal joints of the antenna?, representing the lines or dots which 

 are always present in nireus. But the two species are most sharply separated by the 

 form of the subgenital plate of the female, which in niveus narrows rapidly towards the 

 tip which has a minute angular notch, and by the form of the male claspers, which in 

 niveus have their tips very slender and parallel, being deeply parted, and then retreat- 

 ing rapidly from one another on each side. 



Besides niveus there are recognized from North America three other species of (Ecan- 

 thus, one of which, californica Sauss.,* recorded only from California, is described 

 as having the posterior wings abortive, t The other two species, nigrieornis Walk, 

 from Illinois (description quoted in the American Entomologist, Vol. II, p. 207; 1870) 

 and varicornis Walk, from Mexico, both described only in the female sex and dif- 

 fering from niveus in nothing but the slightly longer hind wings and the slightly 

 greater size of the insect, and in varicorn /shaving a slightly longer prothorax, have been 

 retained as distinct species by Saussure. But niveus, as may be seen in a series of 

 specimens, varies in these characters indefinitely, just as other species of crickets are 

 admitted to vary; so we may consider Walker's species to be but varieties of niveus. 

 They cannot be referred to latipennis, for in this species the wings rarely, and then but 

 slightly, exceed the elytra. 



One other North American species, bipunctatus DeG., has been referred to (Ecanthus. 

 It belongs; however, to the genus Xabea, and should be known as Xabea bipunctata (DeG. ). 



As the female of Xtibea\ has not hitherto been described and Saussure did not recognize 

 the genus as distinct from (Ecanthus, it may be well to give here the characters drawn 

 from both sexes to show how very clearly the two genera differ. The type of the ge- 

 nus is from Sumatra, and Walker, being unacquainted with our species, an Saussure, d 

 having only imperfect specimens, both failed to recognize the existence of the genus 

 in North America. 



* fitndes sur les Orthopteres, (in Mission Scientifique au Mexique, etc. Recherches Zoologiqnes 

 6 me partie.) 3 me livraison ; p. 462 ; 1874. 



tBy "abortive" is evidently meant, from the description following the diagnosis, simply shorter 

 than abdomen. In this respect and in the male (which alone is described) being shorter than niveus, 

 <oalifornievs. which I know only from the description, may most easily be distinguished. 



J Walker, Cat. Derm, s^alt. Brit. Mus., Ft. I, p. 109. 



