ORDER ORTHOPTERA 59 



slender body and reduction of wings. The female is green 

 and the body is thicker than that of the male. In autumn 

 the bodies of the males become brown and resemble in color 

 the twigs on which they are found. This species has one 

 generation each year, hatching about the first of June, 

 and the adults maturing in the latter part of the summer. 

 The adults are found as early as the first of September. 

 They are most commonly found in trees and shrubbery, 

 at some little distance from the ground. Eggs are simply 

 dropped from the trees or shrubs on which the adults are 

 resting, and instances are cited where they are so abundant 

 that the dropping of their eggs makes a sound like the 

 falling of rain. The eggs rest on the ground and are pro- 

 tected more or less completely by leaves. They retain 

 their vitality through winter and early spring and hatch 

 in early summer. This represents a rather simple life-cycle 

 with an annual generation and one in which the winter is 

 l)assed in the egg stage. When these insects are so abundant 

 as to be injurious, it would be of service to rake up and 

 burn leaves, but they are not usually abundant enough to 

 do any great damage. Another way would be to spray the 

 trees with arsenical poison at the time the young are feeding. 

 They are leaf-feeding forms and would secure the poison 

 with their food. A grass-feeding species, Monomcra blatrh- 

 ley, occurs in the jNIississippi Valley. 



Some of the tropical forms are more striking than this 

 native variety and show more forms of mimicry. One form 

 has wings in form and ^•enation like the lea^'es of certain 

 l)lants, so that the insect is remarkably well protected. 

 Other forms simulate growths of lichens, etc. The whole 

 family seems built on the plan of representing protecti^'e 

 resemblances. Several species have the same form as the 

 walking-stick, but possess short wings. There is a wide 

 divergence in wing development. 



The Locusts { Acrid idcp). — The locusts include some of the 

 most important economic species. They are great pests in 

 some ])arts of the country. The group includes the old-world 

 migratory locusts, which still ai)pear as an occasional ])lague 



