ZOOLOGY. ARTHROPOD A. 157 



has of making a noise like a person gently tapping a box, or 

 skirting board." 



ACRYDUDJE. 



Stenobothrus maculipennis, Scudder. 



A pair of the sexes, from which the colors have been pretty 

 thoroughly extracted by the alcohol, is present in this collec- 

 tion. In points of structure they correspond with specimens 

 common to the region around Baltimore. Yet it is to be re- 

 gretted that the entire absence of original color and conse- 

 quent obscurity of pattern of marking make it impossible to 

 ascertain to which one of the varieties these individuals belong. 



o 



GRYLLID^J. 



Gryllus luctuosus, Serv. 



This abundant North American cricket seems to be well 

 settled upon the islands, although we are not informed as to 

 its habits and distribution in that locality. It is the most lit- 

 toral of our species inhabiting the Atlantic region, and finds a 

 home in all the States from eastern Massachusetts, on Cape 

 Cod, to the neighborhood of Saint Augustine, Florida. . 



Evidence is no longer wanting as to the modifications in the 

 length and structure of the wings and wing-covers of this 

 species. From an examination of one colony after another on 

 one of the beaches south of Baltimore, at intervals through a 

 period of more than twenty years, I am led to the conclusion 

 that the small colonies of twenty or more individuals are de- 

 rived from the eggs of a single female. Several times the tide 

 has carried off and drowned all the individuals from a short 

 sand beach, which had to be re-stocked by another brood the 

 succeeding year. By aiding in this work through the intro- 

 duction of gravid females from other beaches, I have essen- 

 tially restored the original condition of the colony. In these 

 assemblages a small number of full-winged individuals occur 

 almost every year, and during times in which the beach 

 becomes clogged by excess of mud or carbonaceous matter the 

 crickets-become partly darker in color. A great advantage is 



