162 



ORTHOPTERA. 



skin of an onion. The shrilling organs in the males consist 

 of a transparent glassy spot, bounded and traversed by strong 

 veins, in the middle of the overlapping portion of each wing- 

 cover, which part is proportionally much larger and longer 

 than in the other grasshoppers ; but the transparent spot is 

 rather smaller on the left than on the right wing-cover. The 

 male is furthermore distinguished by having two small black 

 spots or short dashes, one behind the other, on each wing- 

 cover, on the outside of the transparent spot. The wings 

 are green on their front margins, transparent, and reflecting 

 a faint pink color behind. The piercer of the female is 

 cimeter-shaped, being curved, and pointed at the end, and is 

 about three tenths of an inch long. The hindmost thighs, in 

 both sexes, are smooth and not spinous beneath ; there are 

 two little spines in the middle of the breast ; and the anten- 

 nae are very long and slender, and extend, when turned 

 back, considerably beyond the end of the hind legs. During 

 the evening, and even at other times in shady places, the 

 males make a sharp clicking noise, somewhat like that pro- 

 duced by snapping the point of a pen against the thumb-nail, 

 but much louder. This kind of grasshopper very much 

 resembles the Locusta agilis of De Geer, which is found in 

 Pennsylvania and the Southern States, but does not inhabit 

 Massachusetts, and is distinguished from 

 our species by having the wings nearly one 

 tenth of an inch longer than the wing- 

 covers, the antennas excessively long (two 

 inches or more), and the piercer not quite 

 so much curved as in our species, besides 

 other differences which it is unnecessary 

 to record here. As our species does not 

 appear to have been named, or described 

 by any previous writer, I propose to call 

 it Orchelimum vulgare (Fig. 77), the com- 

 mon meadow-grasshopper, the generical 

 name signifying literally, I dance in the 

 meadow. 



Fig. 77. 



