Grasshoppers of Kansas. 47 



these attempts at feeding the bees were repeated in the morning, at 

 noon and in the evening, with the same results. From these experi- 

 ments, therefore, it seems that there is no danger to the bees from 

 using the poisoned bran mash for grasshoppers. 



OVIPOSITION. 



The egg-laying habits of the grasshoppers are essentially the same. A 

 rather hard place is chosen by the female grasshopper, and with the 

 ovipositor (the four horn-like points) she drills a hole into the ground 

 to a depth of from one and one-half to two inches, the abdomen often 

 being stretched to at least twice its natural length. As soon as the hole 

 is drilled a small amount of white, frothy substance is placed at the 

 bottom, and then the eggs are laid. The number of eggs laid in one hole 

 varies from 30 to 80, but may at times reach as high a number as 120. 

 The most common places chosen for oviposition are the roadsides, alfalfa 

 fields, bare irrigating ditches, and pasture lands where they occur near 

 cultivated fields, and other compact places. In the summer and fall of 

 1913, during the extreme hot and dry weather, the females seemed to 

 prefer a shady place, and deposited their eggs among the vegetation. 



More egg pods were. found in the ground on the north side of a sweet- 

 clover plant (Melonqtus alba) than any other place. Buffalo-grass pas- 

 tures were very common places for oviposition. Special attention was 

 given to the position of the abdomen relative to the head of the insect. 

 During oviposition the female is very quiet and easily caught and held 

 in the position assumed. In order to get a photograph, I took a bottle 

 containing about an ounce of commercial prussic acid (HCn), to which 

 had been added a few small crystals of potassium cyanide (KCn), and 

 while holding the insect in position I placed a few drops of the liquid on 

 the body of the insect, which in every case died in less than a minute 

 without changing the position of the body or withdrawing 'the abdo- 

 men from the hole. The earth was then carefully removed from one 

 side until the hole and abdomen were exposed. In this position the photo- 

 graph was taken as shown in Plate 2, Fig. 1. 



The relative position of the abdomen to the head was noted in about 

 twenty-one M. cliff erentialis, ten or twelve M. bivittatus, one Dessosterria 

 sp. (December 2, 1913), and about thirty M. atlanis (October, 1914). In 

 every case the abdomen had a decided backward tilt, and not with a re- 

 curved position as has been shown in all texts and papers, except those of 

 Milliken 1 and J. S. Hunter. 2 The grasshoppers M. diff erentialis and M. 

 bivittatus were not observed ovipositing in large numbers till the latter 

 part of September and the first of October. 



1. In the Journal of Economic Entomology, vol. 5, No. '-'. p. 232, 1913. Milliken 

 records the correct mode of oviposition of .1/. bivittatus, />. Carolina, and S. shoshone. 



2. In California Bui. 170, 1905, J. S. Hunter reports the correct oviposition r>; 

 If. diff erentialis. 



