THE LUBBER GRASSHOPPER. 151 



single weed or bunch of grass, whose leaves they 

 wholly devour. They are a greenish black in color 

 with a narrow stripe along the back of orange or 

 blood red. The sides of head and hind edge of thorax 

 are also of the brighter color. One colony, noted 

 near the Tomoka cabin, was an uniform reddish 

 brown instead of black and red. It may have been 

 composed of the young of an allied species, D. marci 

 Serv. The young of the lubber locust are wholly 



Fig. 47 Lubber Grasshopper. 



DictyopAortw reticvlatus Thnnb. 



(Mature female.) 



wingless and very clumsy, crawling feebly over the 

 ground when knocked off the plant to which they are 

 clinging. They are said to have no known natural 

 enemies, being so nauseating that even chickens re- 

 ject them as food. They occur throughout the Gulf 

 States and as far north as Chattanooga, Tennessee, 

 and occasionally do much damage by feeding upon 

 the leaves of vegetables and orange trees. 



