2S4 PROCEEIHyaS OF THE SATIOSAL MUSEUM. tolxx. 



M, (1frorat(n- was lomided u|»<ni spei'iiiUMis of Htrikiiij;ly contrasted 

 coloration found in Texas, which I liave since seen from many other 

 jdaces; but as thej' are unitc<l with the tyi)e hy comph'te series of 

 intergrades. 1 anj forced to conchule them to be only extreme color- 

 ational va.iations, whi<"h can not be di«rnitied even as races. 



Specimens with jjrcen or greenish hind tibiae have b«>pti seen by me 

 from the aljjine region of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, ('ai)e 

 Cod, Nantucket, (Ireat Island, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ctah, 

 Carrizo Springs, Texas, and (^)uerataro, Mexico, 



There can be no doubt that this is the true fcmurruhnim of De (leer, 

 since Stal has dcsi-ribed the anal cerci of the niah' from the type of 

 De Geer's description, and I myself made direct comparisons with 

 varied material when in Sweden, nearly thirty years ago. 



In llayden's report on the survey of Nebraska (1872), I collected 

 several accounts, printeil and unpublished, of the injury to crops attrib- 

 uted to this s])ecies in the eastern Cnited States. As up to that time 

 ]\1. athtnis had not been distinguished from M./viuur ruhrum, it is pos- 

 sible, and I am now inclined to think it probable, that all the serious 

 injury d(me to crops in the East is done by M. atlonis; for although 

 almost everywhere less common than M . femur-rnhrum ^ M. athinls has 

 been shown to have the cai)acity for immense multijdication, and has 

 been directly i)roved to be the culprit in some instances; as it is also 

 much more closelj' and indeed very closely related to the destructive 

 locust of the West, .1/. aprctux, it is far more likely to have been the 

 actual pest in all the records of the past. At least until direc*: provable 

 charges are made against it, .1/. Jemurrubrum should be looked upon 

 as less injurious than M. atlanis; it is especially doubtful whether it 

 ever migrates in aerial swarms; as a general rule the tegmina and 

 wings are longer in ^1/. athniits than in M.fi'mur-rubnnn^ though both 

 species vary considerably and intergrade in that particular. From 

 measurements made on Mis-souri specimens, IJiley found that the teg- 

 mina in the present species extended beyond the abdomen as follows: 

 In 28 males, 0-2 mm., average, 0.8 mm.; in 54 females, 0-3 mm., aver- 

 age, 1.1 mm. 



Bruner excellently expresses the fact when he says that the imme- 

 diate distribution of this insect "appears to be controUetl altogether by 

 climatic conditions, the chief of which is the i)reseuce of a certain 

 amount of humidity. . . . It is a frequenter of low grounds, culti- 

 vated fields, shady margins of Avoods, etc., where vegetation is rank 

 and tender.'' It is rarely found upon dry hillsides when meadows close 

 at hand may swarm with them, while the opposite is true of other 

 species, J/, coll inns for instance; yet such specimens as do so occur will 

 be found to differ from those inhabiting more favored localities, in being 

 lighter colored and more uniformly grayish in tone, with slighter con- 

 trasts; those from drier stations appear also to have on the average 

 rather shorter wings. 



