PRAIRIE ANIMALS 295 



III. GENERAL DISCUSSION 



One of the striking peculiarities of the prairie formation is the almost 

 complete cessation of life activities of all the smaller animals in winter. 

 In this respect the prairie animals follow the plants. In spring we find 

 chiefly the insignificant seedling that has sprouted from bulb or seed, 

 and the nymph that has just hatched from the egg. As the season 

 advances the plants become adult, the majority of these reaching 

 maturity with the animals in midsummer. 



FIG. 306. The dock curculio (Lixus concavus Say) : a, adult; b, egg; c, d, newly 

 hatched and full-grown larva; e, pupa; /, tip of pupa from above; about twice natural 

 size (from Forbes after Chittenden, Div. Ent., U.S. Dept. Agr.). 



The low prairie is of interest because of its relation to the eastern 

 forest region. Many if not most of the low prairie forms probably 

 originally occurred in the marshes of the eastern forest region and the 

 river-bottom swales of the prairie and great plains. Many of them 

 (such as place their eggs into plants) are quite independent of the ground, 

 and therefore are most likely to survive under conditions of cultivation 

 where mesophytic plants are favored and the cultivation of the soil 

 does not interfere with their activities. 



