90 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



ing the pleura, together much wider than long, widening back from 

 the pronotum to their roundingly truncate tips which scarcely cover 

 the second abdominal segment. Abdomen beyond elytra very broad, 

 convex, rapidly tapering posteriorly. 



Color: Usually entirely glossy black, except the spines on til)iae, 

 reddish-brown, sometimes a narrow line on posterior margin of the 

 pronotum, a somewhat broader one in front of the ocelli, the legs and 

 the ovipositor in the female reddish-brown. 



Brachypterous var. flava differs from above in color as follows : 

 elytra, last two abdominal segments, genitalia, legs and sometimes the 

 facial suture and a narrow margin around eyes, bright tawny yellow. 



Macropterous form : Thorax much stronger, the pronotum with the 

 lateral margins shorter from the emargination of the humeral angles, 

 allowing greater freedom to the elytra, eyes less recurved laterally. 

 Elytra fully developed, reaching nearly to the top of the exserted ovi- 

 positor, widest before the middle, the costal margin rapidh narrowi\ig 

 to the humeral attachment, coriaceous in texture obscuring the appar- 

 ently weak venation except for the inner apical cells, which are sub- 

 hyaline with straight dark nervures ; wings fully developed, as long as 

 the elytra. 



Color: Black, ovipositor and legs tinged with reddish brown. 



Genitalia : $, ultimate ventral segment jjarallel margined, two and 

 one-half times wider than long, disc slightly convex, pygofers long, 

 wedge-shaped, ovipositor slightly longer than in robustus : cf, val^e 

 broad, rounding ; plates broad at base, broadly convexly pomted, 

 divergent from the base, outer margin medially impressed. 



Specimens of both brachypterous forms are at hand from Wyoming, 

 Colorado, Kansas, and Iowa : of the macropterous forms from Iowa 

 only. 



Larva : Form of the adult nearly, vertex slightly more pointed, 

 depressed either side middle of the disc posteriori)-, a transverse im- 

 pression before the eyes, facial suture-^ and two anterior pair of tibiae 

 sometimes reddish, abdomen with moderately coarse bristles, legs 

 stout. 



Life History : The species occurs only on the wild grasses of the 

 higher prairie land, is two-brooded, the first brood appearing in early 

 spring from larvae that have hibernated, larvse again appearing in June; 

 second brood adults in July and August, larvae again appearing in the 

 fall, becoming nearly full grown to pass the winter. 



