126 



noted before only in Iowa and Nebraska, but probably occurs in suitable 

 localities throughout northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. ( >f its 

 habits in Nebraska, Bruner has written as follows : " It is quite plentiful 

 among the rank vegetation on low moist ground, and ie especially com- 

 mon in wet places where the " cut grass " (Leersia oryzoides, Swartz) grows. 

 The supposition is that this grass offers a better place than usual for the 

 deposition of its eggs, which are deposited between the leaves and stems 

 of grass. Grape vines and other creeping plants which form matted clus- 

 ters that afford shelter from the noonday sun and the bright light of day 

 are favorite haunts of this and other species of our nocturnal grasshop- 

 pers and a few of the arboreal crickets.'' 



-Since writing the above I have received a pair of this species from Mr. 

 A. P. Morse, Wellesly, Mass., which- were labelled "Ithaca, N. Y.," thus 

 extending eastward its known habitat by more than 700 miles. 



ee. Body very slender; the tegmina exceedingly short, pad-like, cover- 

 ing only one-third of abdomen. 



19. Xiphidium modestum, Bruner. 



Xiphidium modestum, Bruner, Can. Ent , XXIII., 1891,56. 



This is the smallest and most slender-bodied Locustid found in the 

 state. It is a dull, reddish brown in color, except the stripe on the occi- 

 put and disk of pronotum, which is a dark, chocolate-brown, the two col- 

 ors being separated by a rather wide yellowish line which in living speci- 

 mens is very distinct. 



The cone of vertex is short and rather narrow. Tegmina, especially 

 those of the female, very short and obtusely rounded. Cerci of male 

 elongate, tapering, a little curved outward and armed with a rather long 

 sub-basal tooth. Ovipositor equalling the body in length, very slender 

 andtaperinsr, with its apical half slightly upcurved. 



Measurements: Male Length of body, 10mm.; of tegmina, 3 mm.; of 

 hind femora, !» mm.: of pronotum, 3 mm. Female — Length of body, 11 

 mm.; of tegmina, 2.5 mm.; of hind femora, 9.5 mm.; of ovipositor, 11 mm. 



As yet noted only at one point in the state, namely, the border of a raw 

 prairie near Heckland, Vigo county, where it was found in small num- 

 bers on October, L'lst. It appears to be less active than any other Xiphi- 

 dium, leaping a shorter distance when disturbed, and frequenting the sur- 

 face of the ground rather than the stems of the tall prairie grasses among 

 which it makes it home. It will probably be found throughout the prai- 



