314 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [DcC. , '05 



tion of country. Most collectors appear to be but little inter- 

 ested in the various locusts or short-horned grasshoppers as 

 they occur in localities being worked, but rather take to collect- 

 ing the more brightly colored katydids and their allies. Only 

 a specialist, and one thoroughly trained in tropical collecting, 

 would seemingly succeed in bringing together the greater per- 

 centage of locusts that are to be found in those rich but 

 difficult regions to work. 



Family PROSCOPID^. 

 Genus TAXIARGHUS Brunner. 



Taxiarclius septentrionalis sp. n. 



Size large. General color dirty olive brown, the only variation from 

 this being faint indications of darker mottlings on the hind femora which 

 tend to cluster so as to form obscure bands on the basal half. Prothorax 

 • quite coarsely and evenly granulate, the lower surface as well as top and 

 sides being thus modified. The only exception to this kind of surface 

 over this portion of the insect's body is a narrow, even, smooth strip on 

 the sternum which extends from the base of the front legs to the back 

 edge of the presternum. In the male this smooth portion is lowered or 

 sulcate and has the appearance of being bounded by broad low carinae. 

 The surface of the meso- and metathorax is also granular, but to a less 

 degree than that of the prothorax, while their sterna are almost smooth. 

 The sides of the mesopleura while not crenulate, as indicated in Brunner's 

 ciagnosis of the genus, suggest a trace of such a characteristic to a suffi- 

 cient degree to permit of its being placed here. Anterior legs with the 

 femora about two-thirds as long as, and arising a little back of the mid- 

 dle of the prothorax. The hind pair moderately heavy ; the tibiae 

 strongly bowed, considerably longer than the femora, and having 19 or 20 

 spines in the outer row. 



Length of body, 9 , 147 mm. ; % , 72 mm. ; of head, 9 1 20 mm. ; % , 12.5 

 mm.; of fastigium, 9.3ni'^-; '^ i 2.20 mm.; of pronotum, 9. 37 mm.; 

 %, 19 mm.; of anterior femora, 9, 22.5 mm.; %, 10.5 mm.; of hind 

 femora, 9 . 50 nim. ; S , 24 mm. ; of hind tibiae, 9 , 54 rnm. ; %, , 26 mm. 



The above description is based on two specimens, a male and 

 a female, which were collected during the month of June at 

 Pozo Azul, Costa Rica, by M. A. Carriker. He told me that 

 they were found on the trunk of a tree where they were so well 

 protected by their color that they were only accidently dis- 

 covered. Thinking at the time that they were Phasmidae he 

 did not make a search for others. 



