A Study of the Gigaxtic Lobe-crested Grasshoppers of 

 South and Central America. By Samuel H. Scudder. 



An examination of the gigantic crested grasshoppers, mentioned in 

 the previous paper, has induced me to review the whole group. 

 Some errors have been detected in the work of preceding authors, 

 showing that they have given but comparatively slight attention to 

 these insects or to their representation by earlier writers ;^ in conse- 

 quence, the synonymy of several well known species, as will be seen 

 beyond, has become greatly confused.' 



1 For instance, Serville and Burmeister, in quoting Drury's description and fig- 

 ure of Gryllus dux, copy the mistake which Fabricius malces and repeats in all liis 

 works, of referring to the first instead of the second volume of the Illustrations of 

 Natural History. 



^Tliis seems the more remarkable, since, an examination of many scores of 

 specimens has shown that the variability of tliese huge Orthoptera is compara- 

 tively slight. I have compared over fifty specimens of a single species, Tropida- 

 cris crisiata, occurring in many different localities from Surinam to Kio, and find 

 the variation to be insignificant, — a fact wliich has given me greater confidence in 

 the opinions I had formed concerning the different species. 



