Insects 149 



was a member of this genus that Fabre studied, and charmingly 

 discussed under the name Italian cricket. They sing at night, 

 never tiring of performing among the bushes so long as the 

 weather permits. When it gets cold, the songs are fewer and 

 intermittent, and it is always with a feeling of sadness that one 

 listens to the last cricket of summer, emitting an occasional feeble 

 chirp. In the mountains, these crickets are totally absent above 

 a certain altitude, and the forests remain silent except for the 

 occasional hooting of an owl. 



The long-horned grasshoppers or Tettigoniidae agree with 

 the crickets in having long thread-like antennae. They may be 

 separated from them by the possession of four-jointed (instead 

 of three-jointed) tarsi; that is, there are four small joints forming 

 the feet. Some are wingless, and such have usually been re- 

 garded by the public as crickets, and named accordingly. The 

 so-called Mormon crickets, Anabrus, are bulky insects which 

 usually occur singly, but sometimes appear in immense hordes, 

 and do a great deal of damage. The cave crickets, Ceuthophilus, 

 are often found in mines, and sometimes in houses. A very 

 curious form, called Tachycines asynamorus, was found to be 

 abundant in a greenhouse at Boulder, and was accused of eating 

 the violets. It was in fact a visitor from Japan, accidentally 

 brought in with plants. The large handsome green insects 

 resembling katydids, of which we have two species common 

 along the front range, belong to the genus Scudderia, which 

 according to Caudell is more properly called Phaneroptera. 

 Much smaller forms, with the head projecting in front, are called 

 Conocephalus or Xiphidium. They abound in grassy places. 



It is the short-horned grasshoppers, called Locustidae or 

 Acridiidae,* which are the great enemies of the farmer; but 

 whereas there are many species, comparatively few do practically 

 all the damage. The subfamily CEdipodinae or Locustinae in- 

 cludes large headed insects, with the hind wings usually banded 

 or distinctively colored. These live in dry or wild places, and are 

 not destructive. One of the commonest, found east and west, 



*If we follow Kirby in taking the large migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) of the Old 

 World as the type of the genus Locusta. this family can be called Locustidae; but it is not 

 correct to use Locustinae as the subfamily name for the group having a spine between the 

 front legs. This character is found in the large migratory locusts (Schtstocerca) of North and 

 South America, and the Old World S. peregnna (probably the biblical locust) but not in Locusta 

 as defined by Kirby. 



