MORSE: ORTHOPTERA OF NEW ENGLAND. 271 
and adult stages. Some digger-wasps too, hunt for, paralyze by 
stinging, and store them away as food for their young. 
Among the higher animals they have many enemies. Frogs, 
toads, salamanders, snakes, and lizards (rare in New England) 
feed largely on Orthoptera. Birds eat an enormous number; 
Blatchley lists nearly fifty birds known to feed upon them in 
Indiana, nearly all of which inhabit New England. Field-mice, 
moles, and shrews give them a place in their diet. Skunks fatten 
upon them. The farmyard cat awaits eagerly the feast that 
arrives when the loaded hay-wagons draw in from the fields and 
captures many as they fall from the fragrant hay. Even the 
aristocratic fox does not scorn them for breakfast when larger 
game is not forthcoming, striking them down with blows of his 
fore-paws and crunching them with satisfaction. 
Methods of Collecting and Preservation. 
Collecting. — Probably no group of insects, with the single 
exception of the day-flying butterflies and moths, may be so 
readily and satisfactorily observed and studied in the field as the 
members of this order, especially the "Grasshoppers" or true 
Locusts. This is due to their size, which is above the average; 
their haunts, in fields, pastures, and waste places frequented by 
man; their coloration, which is often conspicuous and frequently 
attractive; and to the sound-producing habits of many species, 
which call attention to their presence when it might otherwise be 
overlooked. 
It is an easy task to go into the fields and secure several hun- 
dreds or thousands of Orthoptera, but an entirely different under- 
taking to secure a score of specimens of each species inhabiting 
an area even half the size of New England, if its surface is well 
diversified. Success in such an undertaking depends primarily 
on a close study of the particular habits of each species, a careful 
discrimination of their various habitats, thoroughness, and per- 
haps above all, persistence. 
It is true of Orthoptera as of other creatures, that in order to 
study and secure them it is necessary to go where they live, and 
at the proper time : in other words, the season of the year when 
collecting is done has much to do with success. Who carefully 
