ORTHOPTERA OF INDIANA. 381 



The long winged form was first taken in Indiana in August, 1902, 

 when it was found in some extensive low ground meadows in Kos- 

 ciusko County. Here the long and short winged forms were about 

 equally abundant. The former flew readily when approached, hut 

 to no great distance. A few of the long winged ones were also taken 

 near Bass Lake, Starke County. The specimens from these northern 

 counties are more slender bodied than those from the south, where 

 only the short winged form has been found. Attenuatum was first 

 described from Illinois, though it is not mentioned in McNeill's 

 "List of Orthoptera of Illinois." Outside of Indiana it has been 

 recorded from Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. 



I find that the length of the ovipositor among the different species 

 of Xiphidium is not at all dependent upon the age of the insect. In 

 both attenuafum and scndderi it is almost as long after the third, and 

 fully as long after the fourth moult as it is in the adult; while a 

 female of strictum has been taken, with no vestige of tegmina, in 

 which the ovipositor measured 18 mm. The eggs of attenuatum, as 

 the length of the ovipositor indicates, are laid between the stems 

 and leaves of tall rank grasses among which the insects live. 



XLVII. Orchelimum Serville (1831). 



Loeustidae of medium size, but with a short and stout body. Ver- 

 tex, face and eyes much as in Xiphidium. Spines of the prosternum 

 well developed, cylindrical and' slender. Antennge slender and taper- 

 ing, usually of excessive length. Wing covers narrow, the apical half 

 often much less in width than the basal, exceeding the abdomen in 

 all our species; almost always shorter than the wings. Stridulating 

 organ of the male as in Xiphidium., but proportionally larger. Ovi- 

 positor stout, broad, with the apical half usually upcurved; when 

 straight the apical third tapers rather abruptly on the under side 

 to a fine point. Anal plates and cerci of males as in Xiphidium. 



This genus is very close to Xiphidium, and is, by some writers, 

 united with it. Bedtenbacher places it as a sub-genus of Xiphidium, 

 separating its members from those of Xiphidium proper by the same 

 characters as did Serville. As scientists difi'er in opinion as to what 

 characters are necessary to constitute a genus, and as, at best, it is 

 but an artificial and arbitrary grouping of species for the sake of 

 convenience, I follow Serville, Scudder and Bruner in separating 

 the two, believing that the prime idea of convenience can thus be 

 better subserved. 



