THE DECTICTN.E OF NORTH AMERICA— CA UDELL. 



325 



Fir,. 29. — Engoniaspis, species. 



FIGURE OF TYPE FROM DRAWING 

 SENT TO ME BY BEUNNER. (RE- 

 DUCED ONE-HALF.) 



description, is without the tip of the abdomen, ])ut it is certainl}- a 

 female, as shown l)y tiie absence of winces, hg. 28. It agrees in eveiy 

 particular, including the prosternal spines, with female specimens 

 of authentic ^1. pachymerus^ and I feel perfectly safe in establish- 

 ing its synonomy with that species. Being the t3'pe of Engonlasplx, 

 the only described species, it makes that genus a synonj^m of Atlantlcus. 

 Fig. 29 shows the insect upon which Brunner established the genus 

 Engonlaspis. In his letter inclosing this drawing Brunner writes: 



Oi Engonidi^piA I j)Ossess but two female?. I send you a drawina;. The thorns of 

 the i:>rosternum are pointed. The color of the animal is brown. 



The Hgure shows the straight ovipositor 

 and general appearance of pdeJiyuierus. The 

 imperfect type of Scudder's E. tedacea is 

 shown in fig. 28. 



Like its congener this species is active by 

 day as well as b}' nigh|,. I have taken the 

 adult male in early September on Plummer's 

 Island. Mar3dand, hopping about -in open 

 woods in the earl}" afternoon. The young 

 hatch early in the spring, in March or early 

 April in the vicinity of Wasliington, and, like the young of dormUs^ 

 are more active leapers than when matured. William Davis has an 

 interesting account of this species in the Canadian Entomologist for 

 1893. He found the males stridulating in some numbers in a swampy 

 meadow on Staten Island, New York. It was June 26, on a sunny 

 afternoon. One male specimen was captured, sitting unconcealed on a 

 dry dead leaf of swamp grass, and placed in a cage in 

 Mr. Davis's room. Here it sang with unabated zeal 

 until the first of August, when his song grew less in 

 volume until finally he died on the tenth or eleventh of 

 September. The song is described as resembling some- 

 what that of OrcJitlinmm vulgare with the preliminary 

 ''zip, zip" omitted. "It was,'' says Mr. Davis, "a 

 continuous 'zeee,' with an occasional short 'ik,' caused 

 by the insect getting its wing-covers ready for action 

 after a period of silence.*' This specimen grew quite 

 tame, following the hand for fruit, with which it was liberally sup- 

 plied, but at times took unnecessary fright and bumped its head against 

 its prison walls in a most insane fashion. He did not usuallv hide at 

 all but sat on a leaf in his prison, waving his long antennte. 



Beutenmiiller records this species as occurring in New York in drj^ 

 places, especially along hillsides, from the middle of June to late Sep- 

 tember. The adults are unable to leap more than a few inches, 

 especially the males, which usually have the posterior legs very short, 

 often scarcely a third longer than the pronotum. 



Fig. 30. — Atlanti- 

 (' u s pachyme- 



RUS. CERCUS of 

 ADULT MALE. 



