150 



circular, and rather large for the size of the tegmina. Wings very rudi- 

 mentary or wanting. Hind femora long and rather slender, extending, 

 in our species, beyond the abdomen in both sexes, notably so in the males. 

 Ovipositor as long as the body, very stout at the base, straight. 



The "Shield-back Grasshoppers," so called on account of the large pro- 

 tective pronotum, are often quite numerous from April 1st to September 

 in dry upland woods and on sloping hillsides with a southern exposure, 

 but are seldom if ever found in damp localities. 



On the first warm days of early spring the young begin to emerge and 

 in suitable places for a month or more are among the most common 

 Orthopterons seen. They are much more active during early life than in 

 the mature state when they crawl rather than leap. In captivity they 

 feed as readily upon animal as upon vegetable food, and in the natural 

 state probably feed upon the dead bodies of such small animals as they 

 can find. The earliest hatched reach maturity in Central Indiana about 

 the middle of July, and may then often be found resting on the leaves and 

 stems of low shrubs and weeds, but seldom climb over two or three feet 

 from the ground. The adults are far less numerous than the young, the 

 vast majority of the latter probably falling a prey to the many ground 

 frequenting sparrows and other birds, as they do not hide by day as do 

 the members of the preceding genus. 



a. Front margin of pronotum much narrowed, but little more than half 



as wide as hind margin ; the latter broadly rounded. 

 38. Thyreonotis pachymerus, (JBurmeister.) 



Decticus pachymerus, Burmeister. Handb. der Entom., II., 1S3S, 712. 

 Thyreonotus pachymerus, Scudder, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist., VII., 1862, 153. 

 Comstock, Int. Ent., I., 1888, 118, fig. 106. 

 Fernald, Orth. N. Eng., 1888, 26. 

 Smith, Ins. N. Jer., 1890, 411. 

 McNeill, Psyche, VI., 1891, 24. 

 Osborne, Proc. la. Acad. ScL, 1892, ll't. 

 Davis, Canad. Entom., XXV., 108 (Song. of). 

 Color: Male— Grayish or fuscous brown; the sides of pronotum and 

 tegmina black, the former often shining ; a narrow, curved yellow line 

 above the posterior lateral angle of pronotum ; the exposed dorsal field of 

 tegmina light brown; the femora with numerous minute pale spots. 

 Female — Usually reddish-brown throughout except the yellow line on 

 side of pronotum which is bordered above with a dash of black. 



