42 



Though it was an ahnost pure stand of slough grass, with this were 

 mixed a few plants of wild rye (Blyrmis virginicus siihinuticus and B. 

 canadensis) . These grasses reach a height of about four feet. The 

 ground was very hard and dry, and there were large cracks in it. 

 A single collection of animals was made here, No. 179. 



Common Names 



Common Garden Spider 



Ambush Spider 



Differential Grasshopper, adult 



and nymphs 

 Red-legged Grasshopper, adult 



and nymphs 

 Texan Katydid 

 Meadow Grasshopper 



Dorsal-striped Grasshopper 

 Black-horned Meadow Cricket 

 Four-spott-ed White Cricket 

 Ground-beetle 

 Sciomyzid fly 



Scientific Names 



Argiope aiirantia 

 Misumena aleatoria 



M elan plus differentialis 



Melanopliis femur-riibrum 



Scuddcria texensis 



Orchelimiim. vulgarc, adult, and 



nymphs of vidgare or glaberri- 



muni. 

 Xiplndiuin sirictum 

 Qlcanthiis nigricornis 

 GUcanthus quadripunctatus 

 Leptotrachelus dorsalis 

 Tctanocera plumosa 



The basic food-supply in such a habitat is of course the grasses, and 

 this fact fully accounts for the presence of large numbers of individ- 

 uals which feed upon grasses, as do the Orthoptcra in general. But 

 the Orthoptera listed are not exclusively vegetable feeders, for Forbes 

 ('05: 147) has shown that Xiphidium strictiim feeds mainly upon in- 

 sects, chiefly plant-lice, as well as upon vegetable tissues, including fun- 

 gi and pollen; Orchelimum vulgare (p. 144), largely upon plant-lice 

 and other insects ; and CBcanthiis quadripunctatus (p. 220), upon plant 

 tissues, pollen, fungi, and plant-lice. These observations were based 

 upon a study of the contents of the digestive tract. The food of the 

 sciomyzid fly is unknown. The garden spider lives exclusively upon ani- 

 mal food; and being abundant, it must exert considerable influence 

 upon other small animals. It not only destroys animals for its food, but 

 many others are ensnared in its web and thus killed. In one of the 

 webs I found a large differential grasshopper. The rank growth of 

 vegetation furnishes the necessary support for the webs of this spider. 



Some of the insects, as Mclanoplus differentialis and M. femur- 

 ruhruni, oviposit in the soil, but others — Scndderia texensis, Xiphid- 

 ium strictnin, Orchelimum vulgare, and CEcanthus — deposit their 



