CATALOGUE OF INSECTS. 



153 



Family PHASMIDJE. 



These are the " walking sticks "; odd creatures, two inches or more in length, 

 very slender, with very long antennae and long slender legs which they so 

 dispose as to be practically invisible when at rest to all save the trained eye. 

 No wings are developed in our species which, while it occurs quite generally 

 and sometimes even abundantly, is never injurious. It feeds upon the foliage 

 of shrubs and trees. 



DIAPHEROlVrERA Gray. 



D. femorata Say. Abundant on peach trees in Somerset County, New Bruns- 

 wick, Lakewood, Burlington County (Smi, Caldwell (Cr), Staten Island 

 (Ds), Fort L,ee, IX (Bt), High Bridge, some seasons numerous (Ss), 

 Nutley (U.S. Ag i. 



Family ACRIDIDiE. 



These are the short-horned grasshoppers, perhaps the most common and best 

 known of our insects, flying up or jumping out of the way, however one turns, 

 among grass or low herbage in roads, fields or meadows. The females have 

 four horny valves by means of which they lay their eggs in masses in the 

 ground or in soft or decaying wood, where they may remain all winter or may 



Fig. G8. — Illustrates egg-laying of a grasshopper: a, a, females with 

 abdomen inserted in the soil; b, broken egg-pod lying on sur- 

 face ; c, individual eggs ; d, section of soil showing 

 eggs being placed in position ; e, egg-pod com- 

 pleted ; f, egg-pod sealed over. 



hatch in fall ; in which case the partly grown larvae winter and are sometimes 

 seen on mild days even on the snow. The hind legs are much the longest and 

 formed for jumping, the antennae in this family rarely exceeding and often not 

 equalling half the length of the body. 



