No. 16.] 



ORTHOPTERA OF CONNECTICUT. 



119 



This is our most common as well as our most injurious species 

 of locusts, and is found all over the state from the last of July 

 until after frost. It is especially abundant in moist meadows 

 and places where the grass is thick and succulent. 



a 



FIG. 44. Melanoplus fasciatus. a. Cercus of male. b. Meso- and metasterna of fe- 

 male ; interspace transverse. 



M. fasciatus Barnston- Walker. 



Size medium, a rather thick-set species. Head with the 

 vertex somewhat raised. Tegmina covering about one-half 

 (female) or three-fourths (male) of the abdomen. Color 

 variable, dark reddish brown to dark olivaceous gray. Yellowish 

 below. A dark band from the back of the eye extending along 

 the upper part of the lateral lobes of the pronotum to the 

 metazona. Tegmina often with fuscous spots along the discoidal 

 area. Hind femora brownish yellow, blackish at apex and base, 

 and with two broad, oblique, blackish bars on the outer face. 

 Pale or dull red on the inner faces. Hind tibiae usually red, 

 pale towards base, occasionally a smoky greenish color. Spines 



black. 



Measurements. 



Body Antennae Tegmina Hind Femora 



Female 16.5-25.5 6.5-8.5 9 -12. 10.7-12.7 



Male 16 -19 7-5-9 7-9- 10 9.3-10.7 



This species occurs in dry, uncultivated fields and pastures, 

 especially among bush-covered areas. Thompson (A. P. M.) ; 

 New Haven, 13 June 23 August; Lyme, 21 August. 



M. minor Scudder. 



t</ (J 



FIG. 45. Melanoplus minor, a. Cercus of male. b. Ovipositor of female. 



