INSECTS ATTACKING OTHER CEREALS AND 

 GRASSES. 



INJURIOUS GRASSHOPPERS. 

 (Family Acrididoe; Order, Orthoptera.) 



Diagnosis. — Grasshoppers of various species; attacking cereals 

 and grass crops of all kinds. 



Attacking, also, fruit- and shade-trees and garden crops. 



Descriptions and Life-history. — The life-histories of the various 

 injurious grasshoppers to be found in Kansas are so nearly par- 

 allel that a single, generalized life-history may be given which 

 will practically serve for all. 



The grasshopper or locust (I shall use these common names 

 synonymously in this connection) has an incomplete metamor- 

 phosis (see p. 5), the young when hatched resembling the parents 

 in form and habits. The striking difference between adult and 

 newly-hatched young is the absence of wings in the infant, so that 

 its only methods of locomotion are walking and hopping. The 

 eggs are extruded by the female in masses, and deposited a short 

 distance beneath the surface of the ground by means of the strong 

 ovipositor. (See Fig. 13.) The eggs are deposited in the fall, and 

 the young do not hatch until the following spring. The young are 

 furnished with strong jaws, as the adults, and begin immediately to 

 *'make their own living." The increase in size stretches the chit- 

 inized and rather unyielding skin to bursting, and the first moult 

 soon occurs. After this moult small wing-pads, the rudiments of 

 the coming wings, are to be seen. With each successive moult 

 the wing-pads are seen to be larger in size, until, at the last moult 

 (the fourth, usually), they are fully developed, and the grasshopper 

 is said to be full-grown, or adult. The time between hatching 

 and maturity is between 70 and 100 days, varying in the different 

 species. The following species do more or less damage annually 

 in Kansas: 



RED-LEGGED LOCUST [Melanoplus feniur-rubrum De Geer). 



This locust is a common native species, occurring all over the 

 State. It is almost identical in size and appearance with the 



(41) 



