45 



its abundance and its extensive range (see the succeeding papcsr) I 

 have long considered this form of Melanoplus as in all probability 

 the true A. feinur-rubriim of De Geer; but Dr. Stal has ibrtunately 

 for us described the anal cerci of the male from De Geer's type, leav- 

 ing us quite certain of his species. Abbe Provancher has recently 

 redescribed it under the name of Cal. sanguinolentus. Collecting 

 this species in large nunibers.in different stations at Sudbury, Vt., I 

 noticed that specimens found in moist low ground were darker and 

 had more vividly contrasted colors than those found in the hollows of 

 dry upland pastures. I also thought the former to be longer winged 

 but took no measurements to verify this point. 



M. atlantis is everywhere common, being apparently about half as 

 numerous as M. femur-ruhrum in every locality I have collected, ex- 

 cepting at the higliest elevations, as among the White Mts., where it 

 appeal's to be about equally abundant. Both occur on the alpine 

 summits. Taking New England as a whole M. atlantis is more 

 abundant than M.femoratus, and is particularly so in the South 

 where the latter begins to decrease in numbers. In Nantucket 

 the species takes on a peculiar coloring and nearly all the specimens 

 have pale glaucous hind tibiae. Fuller details of these differences 

 will be published hereafter. 



Mel. Junius (^Pez. Junius Dodge) has been taken about Quebec by 

 Abbe Provancher, but has not been detected in New England. 

 Abbe Provancher described it (only a few months later than Mr. 

 Dodge) under the name Cal. minor. 



Brief Notice of the American Species of Melanoplus 

 FOUND West of the One Hundred and Seventeenth 

 Meridian. 



The collections of Orthoptera made during the last summer by 

 Dr. A. S. Packard, together with a series sent me by Mr. Henry 

 Edwards of San Francisco, and others collected by the late Mr. 

 Crotch, or previously in my collection, enable me to give some 

 idea of the distribution of Melanopli on the Pacific coast. In 

 this enumeration I do not count some species from the extreme south- 

 ern portion of California, west of the 117th meridian, obtained by 

 Dr. Edward Palmer, but leave them for another occasion. In the 

 district as I have limited it in the title of this paper, nine specie 

 of Melanoplus are found, only one of which appears to be confined 

 to it. This is the one I have called M. collaris; it comes from the 



