160 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



PODISMA FRIGIDA BOH. IN ALASKA. 



■BY A. N. CAUDELL, BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, 



U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



Among a number of miscellaneous insects recently received by 

 the United States National Museum from the International 

 Boundary Survey were two species of Acrididae collected by J. M. 

 Jessup in the extreme northeastern part of Alaska. The labels 

 on these specimens read as follows: "International Boundary, 

 Alaska, J. M. Jessup. Lat. 69° 20 N., Long. 141P W. 8-VIII-12." 

 Of the two species of Orthoptera received there were fifteen speci- 

 mens, one male and three female specimens of Gomphocerus davatus 

 Thorn, and five male and six female specimens of a short winged 

 grasshopper, which is determined as Podisma frigida Boh. While 

 this record of P. frigida from Alaska is of interest, being the first 

 reported occurrence of this European species in the New World, 

 it is in no way remarkable, being but an eastward extension of the 

 known distribution. 



Podisma frigida was described from Norway, and has been 

 reported from various points in northern Europe and Asia and 

 from the mountains of Switzerland. Material of both sexes from 

 Norway and Switzerland is in the National Museum collection, 

 having been received from Saussure, who was quite surely respon- 

 sible for the determination. Noticeable variation exists in this 

 material from these two regions, but direct comparison of the 

 Alaskan material with the specimens from Norway shows scarcely 

 any taxonomic divergence. As the Alaskan specimens exhibit no 

 tangible structural differences from material from Norway, the typical 

 region oi frigida, it has seemed wise to determine them as that species. 



Of the known North American species of Podisma, the nuhicola 

 of Scudder is the most nearly allied to frigida, Here, however, as 

 usual throughout the Melanopli, the genital structures of the male 

 furnish excellent diagnostic characters. Thus in frigida the 

 subgenital plate of the male is apically conical and noticeably 

 elevated above the lateral margins and the cerci are about three 

 times as long as the median width, while in nuhicola the subgenital 

 plate is more truncate apically and barely elevated above the 

 lateral margins and the cerci are not, or barely, more than twice 

 as long as the median width. 



May, 1915 



