108 



Microcentrum retinervis, Id., Stand. Xat. Hist., II., 1884, 188. fig. 266, (Not 

 Microcentrum retinervis, Burm.) 



This is the largest species of " Katydid" found in the State, both sexes 

 measuring two inches and more to the end of the wings. The general 

 color is light, grass green, the body yellowish green, lighter beneath. The 

 vertex is quite broad, with its center hollowed out so as to form a shallow 

 pit, which is more prominent in the male. The pronotum is about as 

 broad as long, its anterior margin a little concave and usually possessing a 

 slight median tooth, though this is sometimes obsolete, or is replaced with 

 a shallow notch. The overlapping dorsal surface of the wing covers form 

 a sharp and prominent angle with the lateral portions, whence the com- 

 mon name. 



Measurements : Male — Length of body, 25 mm.; of tegmina, 42 mm.; of 

 posterior femora, 22.5 mm.; of pronotum, b' mm.; width of tegmina, 13 mm. 

 Female — Length of body, 30 mm.; of tegmina 4(> mm.; of posterior femora, 

 24 mm.; of ovipositor, 5 mm.; width of tegmina, 14 mm. 



In the country it is this insect which is most commonly called " the 

 Katydid," and the note of Cyrtophyllug concavus is usually attributed to it 

 but its true note may be represented " by the syllable 'tic,'' repeated from 

 eight to twenty times at the rate of about four to the second."* It is 

 evidently attracted by light, being often found in the gutters beneath the 

 electric lights in the larger cities and towns. It occurs, probably, through- 

 out the State, but is more common southward and is nowhere found in 

 sufficient numbers to be injurious. The eggs are usually glued in double 

 rows on the sides of slender twigs, which have been previously roughened 

 with the jaws and otherwise prepared for a place of deposit. The two 

 rows are contiguous and the eggs of one alternate with those of the other. 

 Those of the same row overlap about one-fourth of their length. They 

 are of a grayish brown color, long oval in shape, very flat, and measure 

 5.5x3 mm. They are usually deposited in September, hatch the following 

 May, and the young, in Central Indiana, reach maturity during the first 

 half of August. 



The insect whose life history was so well written up by Dr. C. V. Riley, 

 in his Sixth Missouri Report, under the name of Microcentrum retinervis, is, 

 in my opinion, the present species, since the measurements of the figures 

 there given correspond exactly with those given above of laurifolium. The 

 true M. retinervis of Burmeister is found in the eastern T'nited States and 



