220 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



smallest and most slender-bodied of the winged 

 Locustidce. 



A very common member of this genus in western 

 Indiana is Xiphidium nemorale Scudder. It reaches 

 maturity about August 15th and from then until after 

 heavy frosts may be found in numbers along the, bor- 

 ders of dry, upland woods, fence rows and roadsides, 

 where it delights to rest on the low shrubs, blackberry 

 bushes, or coarse weeds usually growing in such local- 

 ities. On the sunny afternoons of mid-autumn it is 

 especially abundant on the lower parts of the rail and 

 board fences, the male uttering his faint and monot- 

 onous love call a sort of eh-e-e-e-e ch-e-e-e-e, contin- 

 uously repeated the female but a short distance 

 away, a motionless, patient, and apparently attentive 

 listener. 



The remaining nine members of the group belong 

 to the genus Orchelimum, the literal meaning of which 

 is, "I dance in the meadows." The name is a most 

 appropriate one, for low, moist meadows everywhere 

 swarm with these insects from July to November; 

 and though waltzes and quadrilles are probably not 

 indulged in, yet the music and song, the wooing and 

 love making, w r hich are the natural accompaniments 

 of those amusements, are ever present, and make the 

 short season of mature life of the participants a seem- 

 ingly happy one. 



Among these the "common meadow grasshopper," 

 Orchelimum vulgare Harris, is probably the most 

 abundant member of the family Locustidce found in 

 Indiana. It begins to reach maturity in the central 

 part of the State aboutvTuly 20th, and more frequently 



