﻿EEVISION 
  OF 
  THE 
  OKTHOPTEEAJ^ 
  GEOUP 
  MELANOPLI 
  

   (ACEIDIIDAE), 
  WITH 
  SPECIAL 
  EEFEEENCE 
  TO 
  XOETH 
  

   AMEEICAX 
  FOEMS. 
  

  

  By 
  Samuel 
  Hubbard 
  Scuddeb. 
  

  

  INTRODUCTION. 
  

  

  The 
  present 
  essay 
  describes 
  iu 
  detail 
  and 
  discusses 
  the 
  classifi- 
  

   cation 
  of 
  a 
  group 
  of 
  grasshoppers 
  which 
  forms 
  the 
  prevailing 
  type 
  of 
  

   orthopteran 
  life 
  throughout 
  Xorth 
  America 
  — 
  the 
  common 
  short-horned 
  

   grasshoppers 
  one 
  sees 
  every 
  summer 
  day. 
  Its 
  best 
  known 
  representa- 
  

   tive 
  to 
  the 
  world 
  at 
  large 
  is 
  the 
  destructive 
  migratory 
  locust 
  of 
  the 
  

   West, 
  the 
  so 
  called 
  "Eocky 
  Mountain 
  Locust.'' 
  The 
  outbreak 
  of 
  this 
  

   insect 
  has 
  been 
  at 
  times 
  extremely 
  disastrous; 
  so 
  much 
  so 
  that 
  a 
  Gov- 
  

   ernment 
  commission 
  was 
  for 
  several 
  years 
  in 
  existence, 
  which 
  pub- 
  

   lished 
  nearly 
  twenty 
  years 
  ago 
  two 
  voluminous 
  reports 
  iu 
  which 
  it 
  and 
  

   one 
  or 
  two 
  of 
  its 
  immediate 
  allies 
  were 
  studied 
  with 
  a 
  minuteness 
  and 
  

   thoroughness, 
  and 
  illustrated 
  with 
  a 
  fullness 
  very 
  rarely 
  given 
  to 
  any 
  

   such 
  insignificant 
  looking 
  creature. 
  

  

  This 
  destructive 
  insect 
  has 
  nuuicrous 
  closely 
  related 
  allies 
  in 
  all 
  parts 
  

   of 
  the 
  United 
  States, 
  many 
  of 
  which 
  often 
  abound 
  to 
  such 
  an 
  extent 
  as 
  

   to 
  do 
  serious 
  damage 
  to 
  crops, 
  and 
  a 
  few 
  of 
  them 
  have 
  been 
  known 
  to 
  

   migrate 
  in 
  similar 
  fashion 
  (though 
  over 
  a 
  far 
  more 
  restricted 
  area), 
  so 
  

   that 
  they 
  have 
  sometimes 
  been 
  mistaken 
  by 
  the 
  uninstructed 
  for 
  that 
  

   destructive 
  pest. 
  

  

  The 
  group 
  is 
  almost 
  coufined 
  to 
  aSTorth 
  America, 
  and 
  a 
  great 
  many 
  

   species 
  have 
  been 
  described 
  by 
  various 
  writers 
  iu 
  a 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  desul- 
  

   tory 
  manner. 
  It 
  is 
  the 
  aim 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  paper 
  to 
  enlarge 
  and 
  sys- 
  

   tematize 
  our 
  knowledge 
  of 
  this 
  important 
  group 
  as 
  a 
  basis 
  for 
  future 
  

   studies. 
  No 
  group 
  of 
  North 
  xVmerican 
  Orthoptera 
  has 
  been 
  in 
  greater 
  

   need 
  of 
  revision. 
  

  

  Proceedings 
  U. 
  S. 
  National 
  Museum, 
  Vol. 
  XX— 
  No. 
  1 
  124. 
  

   Proc. 
  N. 
  M. 
  vol. 
  XX 
  1 
  i 
  

  

  