324 I'liOCEKDINC.S OF THE NATIOSAL MVSEIM. v<u.xx. 



X05. MELANOPLUS TEXANUS. 



(Plate XXII, fiK- 1.) 



J'e:otetlijr iexanim ScuddkkI, I'roc. liont. Soc. Nat. Hist., XX (lH7i»). pp. S(>-Hl; 



Cent. Orth. (1879), pj). Cy-TO.— IJiuxEii, Kep. U. S. Knt. Comui., Ill (1><83), 



p. 59. 

 Vezoieltix scitddcri BRrxKit!, liull. Waslib. Coll., I (18H.')), p. 1.%. 



Of moderately lar^e size. Head lianlly jnomiiieiit, the vertex tumid, 

 a little elevated above the i)roiiotum, tlie intei8|)/,''e between the eyes 

 half as biuad ajj^ain (male) or twice as broad (female) as the tirst auteii- 

 ual joint; fastij;iuni rather steei>ly jleclivent, so tjhallow as to be hardly 

 perceptible, broad, enlarjj^injj:, and well roun<led apically; frontal co^ta 

 moderate, rather prominent, ecpial, plane, nowhere snlcate e.\cei)tinf»- 

 at and for a short distance below the ocellus and slijjhtly, as broad as 

 the interspace between the eyes, delicately punctate throu^ihout; eyes 

 moderately larjre, moderately and similarly j>rominent in the two sexes 

 a little lon<j:er than the intraocular portion of the jxt'nae; antennae five 

 sevenths (male) or two-thirds (female) as lonj:^ as the hind femora. 

 }*ronotum very simple, nearly e<]ual, enlarpng; a little on the metazona 

 (male) or enlarging' jiosteriorly to a considerable extent and nniforndy 

 throu<;hout (female), the front mar<:^in scarcely convex (male) or trun- 

 cate (female), the hind border very broadly annulate; median carina 

 distinct and abrui)t but slight and equal, the lateral carinae subobso- 

 lete; prozona distinctly longitudinal (male) or longitudinally subipiad- 

 rate (female), about a third longer than the very faintly rugulose 

 metazona. Prosternal spine long, subconical, mesially enlarged, blunt, 

 a little retrorse; interspace between mesosternal lobes twice ov more 

 than twice as long as broad (male)orsub(]uadrate, by exception half as 

 long again as broad (female). Tegniina abbreviate, overlapi)ing, pro- 

 duced ovate, about as long as the head and pronotum together, nearly 

 twice as long as broad, the inner margin rather gently the costal mar 

 gin considerably convex, the tip roundly pointed. Fore and middle 

 femora somewhat tumid in the male. Extremity of male abdomen 

 clavate, considerably recurved, the supraanal i)late triangular, a very 

 little broader than long, ])ointed, the sides nearly straight; furcula con 

 sisting of a pair of slight but broad, depressed, angular teeth, their 

 points as far apart as the width of one of them; cerci rather broad 

 and straight, broadly and roundly constricted in the middle, the 

 extremity truncate and rounded, the whole directed toward the ai)ex of 

 the subgenital plate and curved considerably inward; subgenital plate 

 bluntly Sci'^.onical, the margin quadrate, the apical margin a little ele 

 vated, recurved, and entire. 



The general color is a dull somewhat cinereous brown above, a dirty 

 but rather pale greenish brown below, marked conspicuously by a very 

 broad straight piceous belt, scarcely broader behind than in front, 

 extending from the eyes across the prozona, its upper edge at the 



