248 INSECTS AFFECTING GRASS. 



leaps or hops which has given them their common 

 name. The largest species of this family inhabiting 

 the United States is the Bird Grasshopper or Ameri- 

 can Locust (Acridium americanum) represented nat- 

 ural size at Fig. 134. At a little distance, when fly- 

 ing, this handsome insect might easily be mistaken 



^ ' 



Fig. 134. Bird Grasshopper or American Locust. 



for a small bird. It inhabits the Southern States, 

 but occurs rather commonly as far north as the 

 fortieth degree of latitude. 



The Rocky Mountain Locust or Western Grass- 

 hopper (Melanoplus spretus) is the most destructive 

 American insect of this family. Its stages of growth 

 are shown at Fig. 135. The eggs are laid during 

 the late summer or early autumn months, in masses 

 of twenty or thirty each, in the soil just below the 

 surface. They remain over winter in this condition, 

 hatching in spring into wingless little hoppers, as 

 shown at a, a. They gradually increase in size, and 

 cast their skins after a short time, when they resem- 

 ble b. They acquire wing-pads in the stage imme- 

 diately preceding that of the adult, as shown at c, and 



