C> C ^ O ' M!4 



PSYCH K. 



THE OVIPOSITION AND CARNIVOROUS HABITS OF THE GREEN 



MEADOW GRASSHOPPER {ORCHELIMUM GLABERRIMUM 



BURMEISTER). — Plate V. 



BY JOSEPH L. HANCOCK, CHICAGO, ILL. 



In the early part of September, 1903, I caught several pairs of the orthopteron, 

 Orchelimum glaberrimum Burm, (PL V) in a meadow among some coarse herbage. 

 After keeping them alive under observation for several days in a large vivarium 

 jar, they were allowed the freedom of flowers on the center table in my room. I 

 found these insects very wild at first, but they afterwards became tamed and so 

 adjusted to the indoor surroundings that they entered into conjugation. The 

 means used in subjugating them were gentle treatment, occasional supply of water 

 for drinking, and plenty of picked plants in blossom for foraging. The latter were 

 often replenished during my various excursions afield. On the 6th of September 

 a female was noticed exhibiting rather restless actions among the loosely spread 

 stems of one of the bouquets of flowers above mentioned, and soon after I found 

 her ovipositing in a stem of the bur marigold. The method of oviposition was 

 thereafter studied and found of such peculiar interest that a detailed account is 

 here offered. Before selecting the marigold as the proper plant for her immediate 

 needs, Orchelimian tested a number of different kinds of plants by biting the stems. 

 It was curious to see how quickly a decision was arrived at when she was engaged 

 in this search. Grass, for instance, or other kind of plant distasteful to her, was 

 either ignored entirely, or was subjected to a brief mouth test. When at last, 

 after jumping from plant to plant, going up and down in the quest, the coveted 

 stem was found, she started very vigorous biting, moving her head from side to side 

 in an endeavor to get a stronger hold with her jaws. A gash into the outer layer 

 of the stem was soon made, about an eighth of an inch in length, the insect finally 

 going back over the course of the incision with the evident purpose of more deeply 

 penetrating to the pith. During this first stage in the process the female stands 

 with her head directed downwards, but as soon as the spot is prepared with the 

 mouth she reverses her body preparatory to the act of oviposition. Firmly grasping 

 the plant stem with her feet, she curves the abdomen underneath, at the same time 

 bringing the pointed extremity of the ovipositor into the breach made in the stem 



