130 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



males consist of a transparent glassy spot, bounded and traversed 

 by strong veins, in the middle of the overlapping portion of each 

 wing-cover, which part is proportionally much larger and longer 

 than in the other grasshoppers ; but the transparent spot is rather 

 smaller on the left than on the right wing-cover. The male 

 is furthermore distinguished by having two small black spots or 

 short dashes, one behind the other, on each wing-cover, on the 

 outside of the transparent spot. The wings are green on their 

 front margins, transparent, and reflecting a faint pink color behind. 

 The piercer of the female is cimeter-shaped, being curved, and 

 pointed at the end, and is about three tenths of an inch long. 

 The hindmost thighs, in both sexes, are smooth and not spinous 

 beneath ; there are two little spines in the middle of the breast ; 

 and the antennae are very long and slender, and extend, when 

 turned back, considerably beyond the end of the hind-legs. Dur- 

 ing the evening, and even at other times in shady places, the males 

 make a sharp clicking noise, somewhat like that produced by 

 snapping the point of a pen against the thumb-nail, but much 

 louder. This kind of grasshopper very much resembles the Lo- 

 custa agilis of De Geer, which is found in Pennsylvania and the 

 Southern States, but does not inhabit Massachusetts, and is dis- 

 tinguished from our species by having the wings nearly one tenth 

 of an inch longer than the wing-covers, the antennas excessively 

 long (two inches or more), and the piercer not quite so much 

 curved as in our species, besides other differences which it is un- 

 necessary to record here. As our species does not appear to 

 have been named, or described by any previous writer, I propose 

 to call it Orchelimum vulgare, the common meadow-grasshopper, 

 the generical name signifying literally, I dance in the meadow. 



With this species another one is also found, bearing a consider- 

 able resemblance to it in color and form, but measuring only four 

 or five tenths of an inch from the head to the end of the body, or 

 from seven to eight tenths to the tips of the wings, which are a 

 little longer than the wing-covers. The latter are narrow and 

 taper to the end, which is rounded, but the overlapping portion is 

 not so large as in the common species, and the male has not the 

 two black spots on each wing-cover. The upper part of the ab- 

 domen is brown, with the edges of the segments greenish yellow, 



