ECOLOGY — INTERPRETATION OF ENVIRONMENT 379 



The Habits of the Striped Meadow Crickets 



IN uncultivated wastes, the common horseweed, Lepi Hon cana- 

 dense, often takes possession of the soil and flourishes most 

 luxuriantly. Owing to its rapid growth, it not infrequently 

 overshadows the neighboring clover, wormwood, knotweed, 

 daisy fleabane, and other forms of plants which happen to live 

 where its society conflicts. There are many interesting features 

 in the miniature forests of weeds, not the least of which is the 

 insect life they harbor. In the last of August the weed first 

 mentioned commonly attains in sandy soil a height of from 

 four to six feet, and it is at this period that it seemingly fur- 

 nishes an ideal environment for the striped meadow cricket, 

 Oecanthiis fasciatus. 



This insect has Iteen termed a tree cricket by some writers, 

 from the occasional habit of li\'ing on trees. Inasmuch as it 

 is more often found laying its eggs in the stems of meadow weeds 

 and shrubbery I have preferred calling it a meadow cricket, 

 the real habitat of an insect being determined by the place in 

 which it breeds. 



My experience with this cricket is principally drawn from 

 observations made at Lakeside, Michigan, during the month 

 of August, the last day of September, and the first two days 

 of October, 1904. Further studies of its habits were carried 

 out on numerous live individuals, which I transported to my 

 home in Chicago. 



I have found this insect living singly, or from one to 

 four together, upon the horseweed, the females predominating 



