274 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Measurements: Length of body, male, 30 mm., female, 35 mm.; 

 of antennae, male, 11 mm., female, 13 mm.; of pronotum, male, 7 

 mm., female, 10 mm.; of tegmina, male, 34 mm., female, 41 mm.; 

 of hind femora, male, 16 mm., female, 18 mm. 



The black winged locust occurs everywhere throughout the State 

 and to the casual observer appears to be our most common species, 

 but there are a dozen which are more abundant. Its numbers appear 

 multiplied because it frequents the highways and by-ways of man 

 rather than the pastures and meadows where other grasshoppers are 

 wont to congregate. Moreover, when disturbed, it more often be- 

 takes itself to the bare earth than to the green grass. Why this ab- 

 surd taste? asks the person uninitiated in the doings of nature's 

 objects. For the simple reason that the dust of the roadside and the 

 gravel ballast of the railway correspond so closely with the color of 

 its back that its best friends and worst enemies will overlook it if it 

 v/ill only remain quiet. Yea, even that sharp-eyed connoisseur of 

 grasshopper tid-bits, the turkey gobbler, oftentimes walks right over 

 it, mistaking it for a wayside pebble. 



Mature specimens of this "Carolina locust," hatched from eggs in 

 spring, have been taken in Vigo County as early as June 14th and as 

 late as November 22d. It is usually common and mating by July 5th. 

 Either there are two broods each year, or else the eggs hatch at 

 irregular intervals, as freshly moulted individuals have been observed 

 on a number of dates in September, and as late as October 14th. On 

 one occasion, while passing through a wheat field in late September, 

 I observed clinging to the stems of weeds, several specimens of what 

 appeared to be the bodies of grasshoppers with the wings of the com- 

 mon sulphur-yellow butterfly attached to them. Such a combination 

 aroused my curiosity, but a closer examination proved them to be 

 specimens of this common black-winged locust which had just 

 moulted for the last time, and spread out their soft wings to dry. 

 The inner wings, instead of being black, were light yellow, but in 

 three or four hours thereafter had changed to their usual color. 



This locust is often seen along the walks and in the yards of our 

 larger cities and I have seen specimens about the base of the Soldiers' 

 Monument in the very center of the city of Indianapolis. Both sexes 

 use the wings almost wholly in their travels, and fly in a noiseless 

 zigzag manner for quite a distance when flushed. Their hind legs 

 are used only in giving themselves an upward impetus from the 

 ground, and hence are much smaller proportionally than are those 

 of such locusts as leap rather than fly, while their wings are much 

 longer and stronger. 



