MORSE: ORTHOPTERA OF NEW ENGLAND. 261 
Vestal, however, in spite of the handicap or a northern field of 
study, has made a valuable contribution to the subject in an 
interesting paper on the "Local Distribution of Grasshoppers in 
relation to Plant Associations" (Biol. Bull., Aug. 1913, vol. 25, 
p. 141-180), and his illustrative diagram is especially suggestive 
and interesting. 
Fox, in his paper on the "Orthopteran Faunistics of Eastern 
Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey" has also contributed 
materially to the literature of local distribution (see Proc. Acad. 
Nat. Sci. Phila., June, 1914, p. 441-534). 
Wingless and Vestigial-winged Orthoptera. 
A subject of especial interest in this connection is the distribu- 
tion and origin of flightless forms. Such cases are by no means 
restricted to the Orthoptera among insects but are especially con- 
spicuous in this order, examples being numerous in each family. 
It was once supposed that Locusts with wings greatly reduced 
in size or entirely lacking were especially characteristic of alpine 
summits because many species had been found there, and this 
condition was thought to be due to the influence of high winds. 
This myth has vanished, however, having been based on insuffi- 
cient information. In my "Researches" (Publ. 18, Carnegie 
Inst. Wash.) I have summed up the evidence with reference to 
North America and pointed out that flightless species and genera 
of Locusts are equally as plentiful in lowland areas as on mountain 
tops, and that they are, as a rule, inhabitants of thickets. 
"If the members of a group of locusts, be it genus or subfamily, 
differ widely in habits as regards the two kinds of environment — 
open field or thicket — we find a corresponding difference in wing- 
length, as witness the genus Melanoplus, the group Melanopli, the 
subfamily Locustinae. On the other hand, if uniformity of hab- 
its characterizes a group, similarity of structure accompanies it, 
as witness the Oedipodinae, a subfamily characteristic of open, 
more or less arid surroundings, inhabiting barren fields and 
washes, the drifting dunes of the seashore, or bare crags of moun- 
tain summits, shy and wary of approach, seeking safety in flight, 
and with few exceptions equipped with large and powerful wings. 
"The advantages of progression by flight — dispersal widely and 
