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quentJy survives the Winter in the larval and pupal stages. In the Spring 

 it soon Completes its transformations and by the first of June its note is 

 heard. The)' dig burrows and these they occupy probably as long as 

 they live. During the months of June and July the meadows and 

 pastures and especially the wood pastures are tilled with the music of 

 their song. Ordinarily in favorite haunts every square rod will contain 

 at least one burrow and these burro \'s are of course frequently much 

 more abundant. The males never seem to stray away from their homes 

 in the day-time and are often found smging just wiihin the entrance. 

 Where their eggs are laid, or when, I have never been able to discover, 

 but I have never seen the young before September, so that the eggs are 

 probably laid about the time that G. abbreviatus Serv. , are hatching. 

 Gryllus pe.nnsylvanicus Burm., is so far as I have observed never a social 

 species, not even in the feeding stage. GrvUiis abbreviatus Serv., are 

 always social and never burrow-inhabiting, although it is very probable 

 that they make occasional use of the burrows of their congeners. Mr. 

 Scudder says in his "Distribution of Insects of New Hampshire," — "At 

 Jet!erson in 1867 no chirp of a cricket was heard until Aug. 12, although 

 they often commence their song in Massachusetts in June." If I am 

 right this absence of the cricket serenade in New Hampshire during the 

 months of June and July and early August is accounted for by the fact 

 that this locality is north of the range of G. pennsylvanicus. This species 

 has not been I think reported from Canada, and Gryllus luctuosus Serv., 

 is rare, so that if I have not erred there should not be heard anything 

 more than an occasional cricket chirp in that part of North America be- 

 fore the middle of August. It may be well to add in conclusion that the 

 only invariable and easily recognized difference between the two species 

 is that in the female of G. pentisylvajiicus the ovipositor is decidedly 

 shorter than the body, including the head ; in G. abbreviatus this organ 

 is nearly or quite as long as the insect itself. 



There are five species of CEcanthus, or tree crickets, in the eastern 

 part of the United States and these are widely distributed over North 

 America. Two, (Ecanthus fasciatus Fitch, and CEcanthus angustipennis 

 Fitch, have generally been considered varieties of CEcanthus tiiveus De 

 Geer, but t«o years observation of this genus has led me to conclude 

 that they are quite distinct in structure, habits and song, and they must 

 therefore rank as species. The last named species can be distinguished 

 from the two former by its broader wing covers, the width of the dorsal 

 field com[)ared with the length being about one to two in niveus, as well 

 as in CEcanthus latipennis Rilev, one to three in atigustipennis, and two 

 to five \w fasciatus. The average of these dimensions is in the first men- 

 tioned species . 26 to .54 inches ; in the second .30 to .62 inches ; in the 

 third . 16 to .44 inches and in the last . 18 to .46 inches. Niveris can usu- 

 ally be distinguished from all the other species by its color which is ivory 

 white, with almost no perceptable infusion of green in the male but the 

 elytra of the female may be quite decidedly green. In angustipennis the 

 male as well as the female probably is deeply suffused with green. In 

 fasciatus the greenish tint is also predominant in the wings and elytra, 

 while the other parts of the insect vary in color from uniform deep black 

 to ivory white varied with fuscous or black. In typically colored speci- 

 mens however the head and pronotum are whitish with three distinct 



