INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OP CALIFORNIA. 



45 



throughout the State. Serious attacks in the State date back as far as 

 1722. 26 It appears to be specially destructive in the San Joaquin and 

 Sacramento valleys. 



Food Plants.— The 

 food plants of this pest 

 are about the same as for 

 most grasshoppers and 

 include grasses, foliage 

 of deciduous trees, culti- 

 vated and wild, as apple, 

 apricot, almond, peach, 

 pear, plum, prune and 

 quince, nearly all culti- 

 vated crops and succu- 

 lent vegetation, as 

 alfalfa, clover, corn, 

 grape, etc. Grain and 

 hay crops of barley, oat 

 and wheat often suffer 

 from the attacks, but 



they are usually har- Fig . 39 .__ The conspicuous devastating grasshopper. 



Vested before the grass- Melanoplus devastator conspicuus Scudd. Enlarged 



hnnrw** ic o+ ifo ,r rtV c+ nearly twice. (Author's illustration, Mo. Bui. Cal. 



lioppei IS at ItS WOrSt. Hort. Com.) 



THE DIFFERENTIAL GRASSHOPPER 



Melanoplus differentialis Thomas 



(Fig. 40) 



Description. — This is one of the larger grasshoppers, averaging 

 If inches from front to the tip of the tegmina or wing covers. It 



Fig. 40. — The differential grasshopper, Melanoplus differentialis Thomas. 

 Natural size. (Author's illustration, Mo. Bui. Cal. Hort. Com.) 



is a very beautifully colored insed when fully matured. The head, 

 thorax, abdomen and first two pairs of legs are amber or rich brown, 

 the sutures being dark. The wing covers are brownish gray and the 

 hind wings transparent. The hind femora are yellow marked with 

 black cross lines, while the tibiaa and tarsi vary from yellow to 



""Sanderson, E. D., Ins. Pests, Farm, Garden and Orchard, p. 99, 1912. 



