ORTHOPTERA 



8l 



FIG. 98. The red-legged locust. 

 (Natural size) 



(After Riley) 



The short-horned grasshoppers, or locusts (Acrididae). The word 

 " grasshopper " is an American term for the insects which in the 



Old World are called locusts, as they 

 are termed in the Biblical account of 

 the Egyptian plague of locusts. The 

 locusts include all of our more com- 

 mon grasshoppers, which have the 

 antennae shorter than the body, and 

 a short ovipositor. Many of them are 

 seriously injurious. Their structure 

 and life habits have already been sufficiently discussed (Chaps. V, 

 XVI), so that we shall merely consider a few of the more common 

 and important forms. The 

 most common throughout 

 the East is the small red- 

 legged locust (Melanoplus 

 femur-rub rum) and the 

 nearly related lesser migra- 

 tory locust (Melanoplus at- 



. v , \, ,. . . i FIG. QQ. Two-striped grasshopper (Melanoplus 

 latltlS), hardly distinguish- bimttatns}. (Natural size) 



able from each other by the ^ After Riley ^ 



casual observer, both of 



which are abundant in our pastures, and often do serious injury to 



grass and garden crops. One of the most common forms east of 



FIG. ioo. The bird grasshopper, or American locust. (Natural size) 

 (After Riley) 



the Rockies is the Carolina locust, which flies up along the roadside 

 and in waste places where it lives. It closely matches its surroundings 



