216 



|)Uiiclur('S s('|);irali'(l iVoiii ciicli dttici' ;i lil'lli of an inch of less, and ol'tcn 

 almost loiicliinii' '>.\' tln'n" Uoivlcrs. The surracc (issue ot the stalk is 

 torn and hi'ted wliere the puncture is made, causin,a,' a continuous line 

 of (ul'tcd, roughened spots. The scars made by the broad-winged climb- 

 ing crickot (latipennis) arc larger than those just described, arranged 

 in more or less regular rows, or sometimes irregularly scattered, and 

 separated from each other by considerable dis- 

 tances — from a third to half an inch or more. 

 'Vho connnon meadow grassho))per {Ordtelimum), 

 on the other hand, makes a row of large blotches 

 or i^atches of torn tissue, each a quarter of an 

 inch across (Fig. lo4), the fibers of the surface 

 being broken and lifted and (lie eggs thrust into 

 the pith beneath, 'i'he eggs of all these insects 

 may of covu'se be readily found by carefully split- 

 ting the stalks containing them. They are slender, 

 cylindrical, slightly cur\-ed, l)lunt at both ends, 

 shining yellow, with a darken- roughened cap at 

 the end nearest the surface. The snowy cricket 

 lays one egg for each ])nncture, making a single 

 row (Fig. 229). Th(> broad-winged cricket pushes 

 out from two to six (\ggs in two sets to the right 

 and left (Fig. 230), and the meadow grasshoj)per 

 does the same. 



Assistants have several times found these 

 crickets at the injured tips of ears of corn in 

 the field, but dissection of specimens so found 

 indicates that they are feeding on the fungi which 

 develop on the broken kernels, and not on the 

 grain itself. 



They are injurious chiefly to trees, shrubs, and 

 vines, in whose twigs and branches they may lay 

 their eggs. Raspberries, blackberries and grai)e 

 vines are sometimes considerably injiu'ed by them. Where their eggs 

 have been laid in a close row of punctures the twig is likc^ly to split 

 to tlu^ center after a little, and to die beyond the |)()int of injury. 

 IFalf the canes in a raspberry field were thus affected in one case re- 

 ported to me. 



These eggs are also Laid almost indiscriminately in ;i cousiderabl(> 

 numl)er of thick-stemmed annual weeds. All the species hibernate in 

 the egg so far as known, and the young, hatching in early sjiring, get 

 their growth from the middle of sunnner to early fall. 



JMght species of climbing crickets are known for Illinois, seven of thcMU 

 beloniiing to the genus (Kc<tnthits and one to Xabat. lint two of them 



Fig 229. Eggs of Tree- 

 cricket, QScanthus, in rasp- 

 berry cane: >i, twig with 

 row of eggs; 6, .section 

 along row of eggs, show- 

 ing arrangement; c, an 

 egg enUirged; d, sciilpture 

 of cap, more enhirgeii. 



