New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 455 



flat over the abdomen. The antennae are delicate and threadlike, 

 and are with some species from two to two and one-half times the 

 length of the body. The first and second segments of these append- 

 ages are frequently ornamented with black markings, which are 

 constant with the different species; and, as pointed out by Hart, 2 

 these may furnish important distinguishing characters. The tree 

 crickets for the most part deposit their eggs preferably in the annual 

 growth of plants, and during their early nymphal existence they 

 show pronounced predaceous habits. As they approach maturity 

 they display phytophagous and mycophagous tendencies, feeding 

 on the floral organs of various plants as well as foliage and fruits 

 of different sorts, and even minute fungi that may occur on bark 

 or decaying vegetation. 



distribution. 



Representatives of the genus (Ecanthus occur in southern and 

 central Europe, southern Asia, the East Indies, Africa, North and 

 South America, and one species is recorded as rare in Australia. 

 Each geographical region has its distinct fauna and, with the present 

 state of systematic knowledge, none of the species seem to have 

 been influenced by commerce to become cosmopolitan in their dis- 

 tribution. One species only, pellucens, is found in Europe, and 

 this occurs solely in the warmer latitudes. The American continent 

 appears to be especially rich in the numbers of these insects, and 

 according to Kirby 3 no less than sixteen species out of a total of 

 twenty-seven species listed by him are recorded from this region. 

 Of the species occurring in North America, none apparently are 

 known to range farther north than southern Canada. From available 

 records niveus is the most generally distributed of the species occurring 

 in the United States, ranging from Massachusetts to the Pacific 

 Coast and from the Province of Ontario on the north to as far as 

 Mexico on the south. Such species as nigricornis, quadripunctatus, 

 angustipennis and latipennis are common insects in the region east 

 of the Rocky Mountains. 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



The tree crickets derive their economic importance largely from 

 their predatory habits, in subsisting upon other forms of insect life, 



2 C. A. Hart. Ent. News, 3:33. 1892. 



»W. F. Kirby, Synonymic Catalog, of Orthoptera, 2:72-76. London, 1906. 



