GRASSHOPPERS — GURNEY AND BROOKS 35 



"relatively infrequent in the Coastal Plain south of North Carolina 

 and the lower Gulf drainage of southern Georgia, in addition to having 

 never been definitely recorded from peninsular Florida." Material 

 examined suggests that in northern Florida hilituratus vulturnus is 

 fairly widely distributed, though it is not generally abundant. Friauf 

 (1953) examined a wide variety of grassland and other habitats on an 

 area of about 2,180 acres in Putnam County, Fla., collecting an esti- 

 mated 24,000 specimens of Orthoptera and Dermaptera during a period 

 of more than 15 months in the field, yet he did not find hilituratus 

 vulturnus. There is a paucity of records from the lower coastal plain 

 of South Carolina and Georgia. The pertinent physiographic regions 

 are shown on a map by Rehn and Hebard (1916, p. 95), and a com- 

 parison of their collecting stations (map, p. 91) with those indicated 

 by Morse (1904, p. 10) suggests that the latter did relatively less 

 sampling of the coastal plain fauna in Georgia and South Carolina, 

 while his collecting trip (made in 1903) did not include peninsular 

 Florida at all. 



This grasshopper occurs most frequently in fields and uncultivated, 

 open areas. Fox (1917) mentioned its tendency to congregate in 

 Virginia in farm lands on sandy soils, and Isley (1938), in eastern 

 Texas, classified it as a species of shallow soil. Like the northern 

 subspecies, hilituratus vulturnus is found in many less typical environ- 

 ments, such, for example, as the shale barrens of Virginia which 

 Gurney (1941) described as the habitat of M. impudicus Scudder. 

 Fox reported it quite scarce in the higher Appalachians, but our records 

 and those of Hebard (1945) show that it is frequent in clearings at 

 higher elevations. The following are among the altitudes cited on 

 labels of specimens examined: White Top Mountain, Va., 5,500 ft.; 

 Little Bald, Great Smoky National Park, Tenn., 4,800 ft.; Unaka 

 Mountains, Tenn., 3,500 ft. 



As to food, Isley (1938) found that hilituratus vulturnus (reported 

 as mexicanus) "selected rather widely among monocotyledons and 

 dicotyledons showing a definite preference for crop plants." 



In a report on the sculpturing and other detailed features of grass- 

 hopper eggs by Tuck and Smith (1939), descriptions of mexicanus 

 eggs probably are attributable to hilituratus vulturnus because the 

 work was conducted mainly in eastern Kansas. 



Regarding the seasonal occurrence of adults, the following early 

 and late dates from labels of specimens examined may be cited; 

 Jackson Co., Ohio, June 12, 1932; Vinton Co., Ohio, Nov. 24, 1936; 

 McNeill, Miss., May 8, 1925; Austin, Tex., April 15, 1956; College 

 Station, Tex., June 17, 1920, Nov. 20, 1924; Weatherford, Okla., 



