FAMILY VI.— LOCUSTID^. 243 



Xiphidmm attenuatum Scudder. 



THE LANCE-TAILED GRASSHOPPER. 



A medium sized ojrasshopper, with the sides of the head 

 and body dull reddish-brown. Vertex, disk of pronotum, 

 and tegmina greenish-brown in life, the former with the 



Fig. 159. — Xiphidium attenuatum, female. Original. 



usual dark-brown median stripe. Femora greenish-brown, 

 very rarely bright green, the tibi« and tarsi darker. Teg- 

 mina and wings either abbreviated or fully developed — when 

 the former, covering about three-fourths of the abdomen, 

 when the latter considerably surpassing its tip in both 

 sexes. Antennas with the basal third reddish, the remainder 

 fuscous, longer than in any other member of the genus be- 

 longing to our fauna. Ovipositor also longer than in any 

 other; slender and nearly straight, the apex very acuminate ; 

 cerci of male long, with the apical third gently tapering, the 

 basal tooth minute, slender. 



Measurements. — Male: Length of body, 14 mm.; of 

 pronotum, 3 mm. ; of tegmina, short form, 10 mm. ; of hind 

 femora, 14<.5 mm.; of antennae, 73 mm. Female: Length 

 of body, 16 mm.; of tegmina, 9.5 mm.; of hind femora, 15 

 mm.; ofovipostor, 26-30 mm. 



A few specimens of the short-winged form have been taken 

 in Minnesota (Fig. 159 shows a long-winged female). Prof. 

 Blatchley says : "The males of attenuatum are, as far as 

 my experience goes, the most active leapers among the 

 winged Locus iiJ^, jumping a half dozen or more times with- 

 out pause when flushed, and in the net leaping so rapidly 

 from side to side as to prevent capture with the fingers. 



