INSECTS AFFECTING GRAINS, GRASSES, FORAGE 105 



the hind-wings are tinged with green; the hind-thighs are bright 

 yellow, especially below, with four black marks; the hind-shanks 

 are yellow with black spines and a ring of the same color near 

 the base. The adults at once attack whatever crops are avail- 

 able, often finishing the destruction of those injured by them as 

 nymphs, but in a few days their appetites seem to become some- 

 what appeased and they commence to mate and wander in search 

 of suitable places for laying the eggs. Relatively few eggs are 

 laid in cultivated ground, the favorite places being neglected fields 

 grown up in grass and weeds, the edges of cultivated fields, private 

 roadways, banks of ditches and small streams, and pasture lands. 

 Alfalfa land is a favorite place for oviposition, and alfalfa is 

 frequently seriously injured by this species. It is doubtless due 

 these egg-laying habits and the abundance of food on uncultivated 

 land that this species always increases enormously on land 

 which has been flooded and then lies idle for a year or two. 

 Most of the eggs are laid in August and early September. Each 

 female deposits a single egg mass of about 100 eggs just beneath 

 the surface of the soil. During this season the females may 

 frequently be found with the abdomens thrust deep in the 

 soil, as the process of egg-laying requires some time. The 

 eggs are yellow and arranged irregularly in a mass which is 

 coated with a gluey substance to which the earth adheres, which 

 protects them from variable conditions of moisture and tem- 

 perature. 



Enemies. As before mentioned, large numbers of the nymphs 

 are destroyed before reaching maturity by their natural enemies. 

 Among these a minute fungus undoubtedly kills many of those 

 already somewhat exhausted, especially during damp weather. 

 Almost all of our common birds, as well as many of the smaller 

 mammals, are known to feed quite largely upon them. 



A small red mite (Trombidium locustarum Riley), somewhat 

 .resembling the common red spider infesting greenhouses, is 

 often of great value not only in killing the nymphs by great 

 numbers of them sucking out the life-juices of the young hopper, 

 but also in greedily feeding upon the eggs. 



