112 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi. xxiii. 



dently wholly overlooked the most distinctive character which sep- 

 arates the Gryllites from the Nemobiites. 



This species is closely related to M. vcrticaUs, but is much less 

 variable than that species. It may be distinguished by its less robust 

 form ; very pale general coloration ; occiput and vertex which are 

 multi-fasciate (in vcrticaUs the pale median lines, if present basally, 

 scarcely ever reach beyond the summit of the occiput) ; normally 

 distinct color pattern, with lateral lobes often wholly darkened in the 

 specimens of deepest coloration (in vcrticaUs darkest individuals, 

 excepting rarely among those which are black in general coloration, 

 still have pale ventral margins of these lobes) ; decidedly more deli- 

 cate tegmina and wings, with veins less pronounced and in the microp- 

 terous males with tegmina squarely truncate (normally decidedly 

 more rounded in vcrticaUs), and with armament of caudal tibi?e simi- 

 lar, but with spines and spurs more delicate. The numl^er of such 

 spines is normally five on each margin, very rarely six are found. 



A megacephalic condition (described as capitatus) is occasionally 

 found in males of this species.*' In such specimens the head is 

 swollen out of all proportion to the rest of the insect, this causing 

 the pronotum to expand somewhat cephalad. In such specimens a 

 sudden and very marked flattening at the base of the clypeus often 

 occurs, giving a further distinctive appearance to these individuals. 

 The causes of this abnormality are unknown. We find it strikingly 

 pronounced in occasional males of vcrticaUs also, and it is known 

 to occur in other species of Gryllidae, while in certain genera of 

 Stenopelmatinae, such as Dciiiacrida, Anostostoma, Carcinopsis, etc.,'^ 

 where the head is tremendously enlarged and the mandibles special- 

 ized, particularly in the males, such specialization is known to exhibit 

 the greatest variability within each species. When we consider that 

 this development is nearly always much less pronounced in the female 

 sex and that the males of the Gryllid?e are known to be extremely 

 pugnaceous, it would appear probable that this megacephalism is a 

 development intimately associated with the struggle for supremacy 

 between individuals of the stronger sex. The apparently rare occur- 



c This condition appears to be frequently developed on the Gulf coast of 

 Texas, we have no other examples of megacephalism from elsewhere in the 

 distribution of the species. 



7 See Brunner, Verh. k.-k. zool.-bot. Gesellsch. Wien, XXXVIII, p. 251 

 (1888). 



