448 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
The systematic characters used in the classification of this 
subfamily are drawn chiefly from the modeling of the head and 
pronotum and from the venation of the wings. The terminal 
segments of the abdomen, so important in the Melanopli, are 
valueless in this group for purposes of classification. 
These Locusts are among the most alert, active, and attractive 
members of the order. For the most part they live among and 
enliven the relatively waste places of the earth, inhabiting not 
X)nly the barren fields and pastures but also patches of bare soil 
in all spots scantily clad with vegetation — whether fields, road- 
sides, or vacant lots, — even the outcropping ledges of rocky hills 
and the shifting sands of the seashore and inland dunes. 
To this group belong all of the New England Locusts having 
brightly colored wings, a fact which, taken in connection with 
their medium or large size, causes them to be relatively con- 
spicuous objects in fiight. Not all of our species are thus deco- 
rated, but by far the larger number — twelve out of fifteen — the 
remaining three having the wings either pellucid or faintly 
clouded. It is worthy of notice in this connection that the latter 
greatly outnumber in point of individuals their more conspicuous 
relatives and that they frequent fields with an abundance of 
grass rather than places where the herbage is sparse, and seem- 
ingly more attractive to many of the others. They are also 
much less shy and active than the bright-winged species, which 
are the wariest of all our Locusts. 
The wing color may be mainly black, yellow, or red, yellow 
tints predominating. It is in no sense protective and has no 
relation to the environment, but is probably of value in the 
mating of the sexes as a guiding or recognition color signal. It 
may vary in the same species without regard to sex. It varies 
much with age, newly matured examples being relatively pale. 
In some species {e.g., the Sand Locust) different individuals show 
all shades of color from dull white through j^ellow and orange 
to vermilion; a variety of coloring may be found in the same 
locality or red examples may be lacking. In the Coral-winged 
Locust, whose wings are normally red, yellow-winged examples 
rarely occur. The same species sometimes varies in wing color 
geographically, in certain parts of its range the majority of 
examples being red-winged, in others yellow or orange. 
