OETHOPTEIIA OF INDIANA. 325 



1 



indistinctly and obliquely barred with fuscous on the upper face, the 

 lower face dull orange or yellowish; the knees black. Hind tibiae 

 bright coral red, the spines black. 



Measurements: Length of body, male, 19 mm., female, 23 mm.; 

 of antennae, male, 9 mm., female, 8 mm.; of pronotum, male, 5 mm., 

 female, 6 mm.; of tegmina, male, 14 mm., female, 16 mm.; of hind 

 femora, male, 12 mm., female, 14 mm. 



This is the species which, in my former papers I have called M. 

 coIUnus Scudd. In his "Eevision of the Melanopli," Scudder has said 

 that coUinus "is very closely allied to M. luridus, but differs in its 

 lack of any projecting part of the furcula, the less divergent forks 

 of the cerci, less elevated apical margin of the sub-genital plate and 

 greater maculation of the tegmina." In all Indiana specimens the 

 furctila are visible, and I therefore sent representatives to Prof. A. 

 P. Morse to compare with Scudder's types of both species. This he 

 kindly did and answered as follows: "From an examination of the 

 material in Mr. Scudder's collection and in mine, I believe M. col- 

 linus Scudd. and M. luridus Dodge to be one species. My reasons 

 for so thinking are these: First. The furcula of the male is equally 

 as well developed in coUinus as in luridus. It is as pronounced in 

 one of the type specimens of coUinus from Vermont as in typical 

 luridus, and it occurs very frequently in other New England ex- 

 amples of coUinus. Second. The other differences stated (Rev. 

 Mel., p. 348) as distinguishing these species, viz., divergence of 

 forks of cerci and degree of maculation of tegmina, are quite as 

 inconstant and valueless as the degree of development of the fur- 

 cula. Third. The geographical range of each species naturally and 

 adequately supplements that of the other." I have, therefore, com- 

 bined the two species under Dodge's name, which has priority. 



M. luridus probably occurs in all parts of Indiana, though it has 

 been taken only in Crawford, Monroe, Vigo, Putnam, Marion, Wells, 

 Marshall, Laporte and Porter counties. It frequents open, blue-grass 

 pastures and the borders of gravelly and sandy terraces and prairies; 

 and like M. gracilis and M. hivittatus, delights to carry on its court- 

 ship among the leaves and branches of the iron weeds. They begin 

 to reach maturity about July 20th, and may be taken until late 

 November. While of about the same length, the females of luridus 

 are much more robust than those of either M. femur-ruhrum or M. 

 atlanis, and the tegmina just reach the tip of or are a little shorter 

 than the abdomen, instead of exceeding it as in those species. 



