04 VUOCEEDIKGS OF THE XATIOXAL MUSEl'M. volxx. 



Oiii- knowledj^e of the naturcil history of this 8peci«*8 dei)eml8 almost 

 entirely upon what Uruner wrote in his lirst aecount of it in 1S,S7, 

 before it was named. He found it in destruetive numbers in Wasliinj;- 

 ton County, Texas, feedinj; upon the post oak aiul "completely defoli 

 atinjjf the trees of the forest even to the very topmost twigs." He gives 

 the following account of its history and habits: 



The ej;>; pods are depositiMl in the <;i°oiin(l about the bases of trees or iiulilVrrentl.x 

 scalttTi'd about the siirfatM' aiii<»ii«; the decaying heaves, etc., like those of all otiiiT 

 groiind-hiying species. The young «'onunenfe hatching about the middle of March, 

 and continue to appear until into Apiil. After molting tlic lirst time and becoming 

 a little hardened they immediately climb up the trunks of the trees and bushes of 

 all kin<l8 and connnenee leeding upon the new an<l tentler Ibliage. They molt at 

 least five or six times, if we may take the variation in size and ditVerence in the 

 development of the rudiments of wings as a criterion. The imago or mature stage 

 is reached by the last of May <tr during the lirst part of June. 



The s]»ecies is very active and shy in all its 8t;i<;es of gn>wth after leaving the egg. 

 The larva and i)Upa run up the trunks and along the Iiml>sof trees with considerable 

 sfieed, and in this res]»ect differ consi<lerably from all other species of locusts with 

 which I am actjUtaiuted. I am informed that the mature insects are also et|ually 

 wild and fly like binls. They feed both by day and night; and I ant told by those 

 who have jtassed through the woods after night, when all else was <juiet, that the 

 noise ]»roduccd by the grinding of their Jaws was not unlike the greedy feeding of 

 Kwine. 



The colors of the insect in life during the early stages are given in 

 the same i)lace by Bruner and copied by l*ackard. 

 liiley had previously reared the si)ecies iu Missouri on oaks. 



21. PODISMA. 



(rioSiduo^, measuring by feet.) 



Podiama Latueille, Cuvier. Kigni- Anim., ^' (1829), p. 1S8. 

 I'ezotettix IU'U.mei.stkh, Germar, Zeitschr. Ent., II (1S40), p. 51. 



Forp) of body and of head as in Melauoplus; antennae as there, but 

 rarely irodisuia rarir(/ata, e.g.) they are as long as the hmd femora, 

 rroiiotum variable, but always short, sometimes subcyliiidrical, some- 

 times (and especially in the female) expanding considerably from *n fioiit 

 backward, never mesially contracted, generally with very feeble trans 

 verse sulci, the lateral lobes obliquely truncate ai)ically on the anterior 

 section; front margin truncate, hind margin usually subtruncate or 

 truncate and even emarginate, but sometimes also very obtusaugulate, 

 the i)roz()na generally considerably longer than the metazona, sometimes 

 twice as long, smooth or very faintly punctate, the metazona generally 

 very densely punctate; median carina distinct, but sometimes slight on 

 the metazona, generally feeble sometimes obsolete on the i)rozona; lat 

 eial carinae very variable, the disk sometimes passing quite insensibly 

 into the lateral lobes, sometimes so abrujjtly and angularly as to form 

 tolerably distinct lateral carinae. Prosternal spine always prominent, 

 generally bluntly conical; meso and metastethia together, at least in 

 the male and nearly always iii both sexes, distinctly longer than the 

 width of the metastethium, the latter narrowing posteriorly, so that the 



