FAMILY VI.— LOCUSTID^. 



235 



Fig. 156. — OrchelJmum vulgare, female. 

 Original. 



This is our most abundant meadow grasshopper, and 

 can be found from the end of July until frost. It seems to 

 prefer the higher and dryer meadows and clover and timothy 

 fields. Both sexes are shown in Figs. 155 and 156. 



This species is a powerful musician, or rather a noisy 



one. Prof. Scudder says : 



"When about to sing on 

 a hot sunny day, the male 

 mounts a stalk of grass 

 about a foot from the 

 ground, where it clings 

 with its four Iront legs, 

 allowing its hind legs to 

 dangle on either side of the stalk, that they may not inter- 

 fere with the wing-covers. Beginning with ts it changes al- 

 most instantly into a trill of ^r. At first there is a crescendo 

 movement, ^?vhich reaches its volume in half a second; the 

 trill is then sustained for a period varying from one to 

 twenty seconds, but generally from six to eight seconds, and 

 closes abruptly with /?. This strain is followed by a series 

 of very short staccato notes sounding likejip, jip, jip, re- 

 peated at half-second intervals; the staccato notes and trill 

 alternate ad libitum. The staccato notes may be continued 

 almost indefinitely, but are very rarely heard more than ten 

 times in direct succession; it ordinarily occurs three or (our 

 times when the phrase is repeated." 



Orchelimum glaberrimum Burmeister. 



Ver}' similar to vulgare, perhaps only a larger form. 

 The general color is the same, but the brown line on the disk of 

 pronotum is, in the female, more plainly margined with black, 

 while in the male the black dashes at ends of tympanum are 

 larger and more completely enclose that organ. The teg- 

 mina of the male exceed the hind femora by about 4 mm., 

 and are exceeded by the wings about the same distance; 

 those of the female are proportionately a little shorter. 



