GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



CHAPTER I 

 THE COMMON RED-LEGGED LOCUST 



Though I watch their rustling flight, 



I can never guess aright 



Where their lodging-places are ; 



'Mid some daisy's golden star, 



Or beneath a roofing leaf, 



Or in fringes of a sheaf, 



Tenanted as soon as bound. EDITH M. THOMAS. 



Habitat and Distribution. Locusts are found almost every- 

 where in the United States, usually in fields, meadows, and 

 along roadsides. They are often spoken of as grasshoppers, 

 but, as we shall see later, they differ from the true grass- 

 hoppers in several important particulars. The species (see 

 p. 95) which heads this chapter is one of the most widely 

 distributed of the insects to which the name locust is cor- 

 rectly applied. It is known to naturalists as Melan'oplus l 

 fe'mur-ru'brum. Its habitat (the locality where it is naturally 

 found) comprises grassy areas in almost every state except 

 on the high western plains, where its place is taken by a 

 species much resembling it, the Rocky Mountain locust 

 (Melanoplus spre'tus). Another species, the lesser locust 

 (Melanoplus atlan'is), somewhat smaller and darker in color, 

 is also found in nearly every part of the country. These, 

 and several other locusts, are about three centimeters (a little 



1 The first time a scientific name is used, a mark is placed after the 

 accented syllable as an aid in pronunciation. 



1 



