GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



CHAPTER I 



THE COMMON RED-LEGGED GRASSHOPPER 



Though I watch their rustling flight, 

 I can never guess aright 

 Where their lodging-places are ; 

 'Mid some daisy's golden star, 

 Or beneath a roofing leaf, 

 Or in fringes of a sheaf, 

 Tenanted as soon as bound. 



Edith M. Thomas 



Distribution. Grasshoppers, or locusts, are found almost 

 everywhere in the United States, — usually in fields, mead- 

 ows, and along roadsides. There are many different kinds of 

 grasshoppers, but the species which heads this chapter is one 

 of the most widely distributed. It is known to naturalists 

 as Melan'oplus l fe'mur-ru'brum. Its habitat (the locality 

 where it is naturally found) eomprises grassy areas in almost 

 every state except on the high Western plains, where its 

 place is taken by a species much resembling it, — the Rocky 

 Mountain grasshopper, or locust (Melanoplus spre'tus). The 

 lesser grasshopper (Melanoplus atla'nis), somewhat smaller 

 and darker in color, is also found in nearly every part of 

 the country. These and several other grasshoppers are about 

 three centimeters (a little over an inch) in length, and re- 

 semble each other so closely that the following description 

 will apply nearly as well to one as to another. 



1 The first time a scientific name is used, an accent mark is placed after the 

 accented syllable as an aid in pronunciation. 



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