GRASSHOPPERS — GURNET AND BROOKS 53 



Length of body, 26.5; tegmen, 23.0; hind femur, 12.5; extent of 

 tegmen posterior to apex of hind femur, 9.0; pronotum, 4.6. The 

 E/F ratio (length of tegmen divided by length of hind femur; see 

 comments on p. 6) is 1.840. The general coloration is light brown, 

 the head with gena rather pale and postocular dark bar distinct; 

 antenna reddish brown; dorsum of occiput with broken, indistinct 

 longitudinal dark streaks; tegmen with dark flecks in basal half only; 

 hind femur with three transverse blackish bars (exclusive of knees) 

 primarily on mesal half of dorsal surface; hind tibia and tarsus pale 

 red, spines, claws, and apical half of spurs black. 



Five additional males and one female examined bear the same data 

 as the neotype. The locality where the neotype was collected, 

 Lawrence (Douglas Co.), Kans., is about 65 miles south of the type 

 locality. Highland (Doniphan Co.), Kans. George F. Gaumer, the 

 collector of the neotype, was a special assistant to the U. S. Entomo- 

 logical Commission who worked in Kansas in 1877. He has reported 

 (Gaumer, 1878) that on June 16, 1877, he observed locusts flying over 

 the Wakarusa River (which is about 3 miles south of LaAvrence) . He 

 observed them on June 18 also, and, though a precise locality is not 

 described, it can be inferred that the same general locality was 

 involved. The locusts were seen flying in a north-northeast direction, 

 and at 5 p. m. many specimens dropped to the ground. This informa- 

 tion published by Gaumer explains the probable background of the 

 historic specimen chosen as neotype, 



Walsh (1866) did not give a formal description of spretus, though he 

 gave various characters and compared it to M. femur-rubrum, and he 

 attributed the specific name to Uhler, who Walsh said had given the 

 locust the name Caloptenus spretus without describing it. Since no 

 published proposal of the name by Uhler was made, the name dates 

 from Walsh. Walsh had specimens which were sent to him by 

 Prof. W. S. Robertson of the Indian Orphan Institute, Highland, Kans. 

 Since he did not consider that he was describing spretus as new, pos- 

 sibly specimens were not preserved, at any rate no such specimens 

 nor further references to them have been found, in spite of an examina- 

 tion of the principal historic collections of Melanoplus. In case 

 specimens were preserved in the Walsh collection, they probably 

 were destroyed in 1871, when the Walsh material was burned in the 

 great Chicago fire (Burks, 1953, p. 16). Since no type is known to 

 exist, in spite of efforts to locate one, selection of a neotype is advisable. 

 This is especially true because spretus is of great historic importance. 

 It has not been collected recently, and old specimens are scattered in 

 many collections, and eventually the number of good examples may 

 become scarce. 



The name caeruleipes was proposed by Cockerell (1889) for the 



