OKTHOPTERA OF INDIANA. 299 



prominence, usually sulcata below the ocellus. Antennae slender, 

 filiform, never more than twice as long as the pronotum. Disk of 

 pronotum usually only half as long again as the average breadth; the 

 prozona distinctly longer than the metazona, its edges parallel, its 

 surface a little convex and faintly punictate; metazona with its edges 

 more or less diverging backward, its surface flat and densely punc- 

 tate; front margin truncate, hind margin obtuse angulate; the me- 

 dian carina low but distinct on the metazona, often faint or obso- 

 lete on the prozona; the lateral carinse obsolete. Lateral lobes of 

 pronotum vertic'al or nearly so, and usually marked on their upper 

 half with a blackish band. Tegmina always present, in some species 

 being mere oval or lanceolate scales, but little, if any, longer than 

 the pronotum; in others fully developed and then attaining or a little 

 surpassing the tips of the hind femora.* Wings either represented 

 by minute scales or fully developed, transparent, colorless. Hind 

 fem6ra moderately long and slender, usually equaling the tip of ab- 

 domen in the female and surpassing it in the male. Cerci of male 

 exceedingly variable in form, often enlarged at apex, never styliform, 

 and usually about the length of the sub-genital plate. Furcula usual- 

 ly developed and to a variable extent and also variable in form; so 

 that they and the cerci furnish characters much used in separating 

 the species one from another. 



This genus comprises more species than does any other of the 

 North American Orthoptera, no less than 146 being listed by Scud- 

 der from the United States and Canada. Of these 17 have been taken 

 in Indiana. Some of these, to the casual observer, may seem very 

 similar in size, color and general appearance, but a close examination 

 of the abdominal appendages of the male will at once prove their 

 distinctness. The tyro will probably have much difficulty in sep- 

 arating the females of the different species; in fact, he can only do 

 so by taking the two sexes in the field, where they are usually to be 

 found associated together. While dull colored and uninteresting to 

 most people, the members of this genus form the most characteristic 

 group of our Aerididre. To it belong our most common locusts and 

 the ones which do the most injury. From mid-May until late No- 

 vember they leap from our pathway in numbers, whether we stroll 

 through open Avoodland, sunny meadow, or along the roadside; while 

 in the back yards and on the lawns of our city homes they swarm in 

 great profusion. 



'None of our .species, unless it l)e /a«cirt«us, are dimorphic as regards wing length. I 

 have seen only the short winged form o{ fasciatus, in Indiana, though along winged one is 

 known, 



