1914.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 449 



analyses of the U. S. Bureau of Soils, falling below 35%. Most of 

 the Piedmont soils have a sufficiently open texture to permit the 

 ready percolation of water, but their high silt content enables them 

 to readily conserve the supply, so that, except in periods of excep- 

 tional drought, the amount of moisture available for plant growth 

 is considerable. Being derived either directly or indirectly from 

 crystalline rocks, they are in most instances rich in essential plant- 

 foods, especially potash, lime and magnesium. For these reasons 

 the dominant type of vegetation is mesophytic and with this is 

 correlated the presence of a prevailingly mesophilous grasshopper 

 fauna. Originally the whole region was densely forested, the domi- 

 nant tree growth consisting of hardwoods, but at the present time 

 this has been largely removed and the country converted into farm- 

 lands and pastures. 



The grasshopper fauna of the Piedmont, exclusive of tettigids and 

 nocturnal locustids, includes, to my knowledge, the following species : 



Pseudopomala brachyptera Melanoplus femur-rubrum 



Eritettix carinatus " minor 



Orphulella speciosa " luridus 



'' pelidna '' jemoratus 



Dichromorpha viridis Scudderia texensis 



Chlceoltis conspersa " curvicauda 



Stenobothrus curtipennis " furcata 



Arphia sulphurea Amblycorypha oblongifolia 



" xanthoptera " rotundifolia 



Chortophaga viridifasciata Microcentrum sp. 



Encoptolophus sordidus Conocephalus triops 



Hippiscus tuber culatus . Orchelimum vulgar e 



" rugosus " spinulosum 



Dissosteira Carolina Xiphidium fasciatum 



Spharagemon bolli " brevipenne 



Melanoplus scudderi " strictum 



" tribulus Atlanticus dor salts 



" atlanis 



Of these species those most distinctive of the Piedmont Region 

 are Dichromorpha viridis, Orphulella speciosa, Stenobothrus curti- 

 pennis, Encoptolophus sordidus, Hippiscus tuberculatus, and Mel- 

 anoplus minor. Each of these appears to be either absent, rare or 

 local in the Coastal Plain. 



The most abundant species in the Piedmont, as in the entire eastern 

 section of the continent, is the red-legged grasshopper, Melanoplus 

 jemur-rubrum. This species is present far in excess of any of the 

 other species. Next in point of numbers come such forms as Dichro- 



