New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 475 



dates of last appearance of adults. 



In the autumn of 1912 specimens of this species were found on 

 October 29, and males were heard singing on the night of October 30. 

 These had lived through three light frosts, but none of the 

 insects were found after heavy frosts on November 2, 3 and 4. 

 In 1913 a good many females were found in apple trees on October 

 28 but no males were observed. 



FEEDING HABITS. 



This species subsists on a rather wide assortment of foods of both 

 vegetable and animal origin, which are capable of being masticated 

 by its comparatively weak mandibles. In rearing the crickets in 

 cages we depended almost entirely on aphids and sugar solution, 

 both of which were easily available and readily eaten by this and other 

 species. The insect also ate holes in raspberry leaves and to a less 

 extent in apple leaves. Under confinement niveus was often seen 

 chewing at the cambium on the truncate ends of a severed branch 

 and eating the green outer layer of wild carrot stalks. A disabled 

 cricket or one unable to defend itself usually fell a victim to more 

 vigorous individuals. For further knowledge of their natural feed- 

 ing habits we dissected out the crops of a number of individuals and 

 examined the contents with a microscope. The specimens of this 

 species examined were in the fourth and fifth instars and all were 

 taken from trees in a neglected apple orchard. In about half of 

 them the crop contained a large proportion of materials of insect 

 origin, while in the remainder the contents consisted largely of plant 

 tissues. The latter was mostly leaf tissue, including cells with 

 chlorophyll, leaf hairs and vascular tissue. Mycelia and spores 

 of various fungi were present in smaller quantities. The contents 

 derived from the eating of insects was usually so broken up that it 

 was difficult to classify with any degree of certainty the different 

 elements as to their origin. In quite a number of samples we found 

 parts of what appeared to be the cast-skin of a tree cricket, which 

 was probably its own, and in one specimen this was all the crop 

 contained. Broken pieces of faceted eyes, which resembled those 

 of an aphid, and antennae of probably the same individual were 

 found in several instances. In nearly all specimens remains of San 

 Jose scales were detected, and in the contents of one crop the pygidia 



