NO. 1124. REVISION OF THE MELANOPLISCUDDEE. 69 



nates in a tubercle distinct from the margin itself, though it is a rather 

 common feature in the alternate section; accordingly I have arranged 

 these two genera in such an order that they directly follow those of the 

 other section, and the remaining genera in such sequence as that 

 arrangement required. It is composed of insects of a much heavier 

 build than Hesperotettix, the principal distinctions between the two 

 genera being given in the table (page 11). 



The genus is confined to the western half of the United States from 

 the Yellowstone to the Mexican border, 1 but it does not appear to have 

 been found in California 2 or farther east than western Kansas and 

 Nebraska; it does not reach the prairie region, and is mostly found 

 apparently at elevations not far from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea. 



According to Bruner, Acoloplus turnbullii and Acoloplus chenopodii, 

 and therefore probably all the members of the genus, or at least those 

 of the division A 1 of the following table, are similar in their food 

 habits, confining their attention "almost entirely to the various species 

 of plants of the botanical family Chenopodiaceae, which abound in the 

 regions where they occur, being particularly fond of the grease-wood, 

 Sarcobates vermicular is" 



ANALYTICAL KEY TO THE SPECIES OF AEOLOPLUS. 



A 1 . Pronotum longitudinally striped with lighter and darker colors; tegmina more 

 or less (excepting in Aeoloplns eletjans), though sometimes feebly, flecked with con- 

 trasting colors; lower genicular lobe of hind femora crossed by a dark basal band. 

 & 1 . Tegmina at rest extending as far as or beyond the tip of the abdomen, particu- 

 larly in the male. 



c 1 . Tegmina relatively long and slender, in the middle narrower than the pro- 

 zona; wings elongate, fully twice as long as broad. 

 d l . Smaller species, the males less than 15 mm. long; tegmina maculate; apical 



half of male cerci very slender 1. tenuipennis (p. 70). 



d-. Larger species, the males scarcely less than 20 mm. long; tegmiua immacu- 

 late ; apical half of male cerci relatively stout 2. elegans (p. 71). 



c 2 . Tegmina relatively short and stout, in the middle as broad as the prozona; 

 wings not elongate, distinctly less than twice as long as broad. 



d 1 . Tegmina and wings not or scarcely surpassing the abdomen in either sex; 

 subapical tubercle of male abdomen prominent, about as high as broad. 



3. regal ts (p. 71). 



d-. Tegmiua and wings much surpassing the abdomen in both sexes ; subapical 

 tubercle of male abdomen but slightly elevated, less than half as high as 



broad 4. californicits (p. 73). 



b-. Tegmiua at rest falling distinctly, sometimes considerably, short of the tip of 

 the abdomen. 



c'. Tegmina lobiform, not so long as pronotum 5. clienopodii (p. 74). 



c ; . Tegmina merely abbreviate, about twice as long as pronotum. 



d 1 . Cerci of male tapering only in the basal half, the apical half slender and 



equal 6. turnbuUii (p. 75). 



d*. Cerci of male tapering almost uniformly through the basal three- fourths, 

 only the apical fourth equal 7. plagosus (p. 76). 



1 And beyond it, for I have females of an undescribed species from San Louis Potosi. 



2 Though Bruner states that a species occurs on the " Pacific Coast. " 



