812 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 47. 



red and black colonists, than it struck me that 

 they must be the young of the great black 

 grasshopper I had seen in spirit. This was 

 subsequently confirmed for uie through the 

 kindness oC Mr. L. O. Howard, of the Agricul- 

 tural department at Washington. One day last 

 March, during the first pai-t of the moutli, 

 ■while on one of mj* collecting excursions in 

 this country, mj- way lay through an extensive 

 cypress-swamp. The only good fooling was 

 along a low, straight embankment, that had 

 been made by the earth thrown out to dig a 

 canal, to which it now formed the bank on one 

 side. It was composed of a dry, black soil, 

 npon which the new spring grass and the ear- 

 lier plants had just commenced to make their 

 appearance. It was here that 1 first came across 

 a family, or brood ratlier (for no old ones are 

 to be found at this time of the year) , of the 

 young grasshoppers in question. They ex- 

 tended obliquely across my path in nearly a 

 straight line, about half a yard in length, and 

 from three or four to a dozen or more indi- 

 viduals in width. Where small dry twigs oc- 

 curred, or blades of grass, in their course, the}' 

 completely covered them, and were so. packed 

 together that in some parts of the group the}- 

 crowded each other a good deal. When fii'st 

 discovered, little or no activity among tiiem 

 ■was apparent ; but no sooner did I commence 

 to lay in a store of specimens than the sur- 

 vivors of my attack immediateh' began to hop 

 off in all directions, obliging nie very soon to 

 make single captures. . At this stage of their 

 growth, these insects are about of the same 

 size, having an average length of a centimetre ; 

 their general color being a deep, shiny black. 

 This is set off by fine lines of brilliant ver- 

 milion, occurring at different places on the 

 body. One strip extends mesiad, the entire 

 length of the dorsal aspect, from a point be- 

 tween the antennae to the posterior extremitj- 

 of the abdomen ; another bounds, on either 

 side for a short distance, the hinder margin 

 of the prothorax ; while the same is found 

 behind the whole length of each of the hind- 

 femora. The lower and posterior angle of 

 the epicranium is also bordered by the same 

 color as is its inferior margin in front, and a 

 line that extends down from the eye on either 

 side to join it. Finallj' we observe that each 

 abdominal ring is emarginated in the same 

 ■nay, along the ridges of the pleurite portions, 

 below the spiracles. At this age the antennae 

 are half as long as the bodj'. 



A few ■weeks later, when they are about 

 double the size I have just described, we begin 

 to observe in these collections, ■which are ap- 



parently all of the same crop, some specimens 

 consiilerably larger than the general run. 

 These may be females, but this I cannot posi- 

 tivelj- assert: though, as the insect grows, these 

 larger ones maintain their size over the olii- 

 ers ; and later in the year we find them to be 

 females, notwithstanding the sexes at these 

 times seem to be pretty equally divided ia 

 numbers. 



In the middle of June, a field in the vicinity 

 of New Orleans, where the grass, had giown to 

 be about waist-high, was covered in one or two 

 places of no great extent with these grass- 

 hoi)pei's. They now ranged from fmir to five 

 centimetres in length, and could l)e seen at sev- 

 eral hundred feet distance. Other varieties of 

 plants were covered with them ; but I found 

 none on the ground, unless the}- were acci- 

 dentally knocked down, or jumped down when 

 one failed in his efforts to capture them. 



At these times the\- are ver}' sluggish, 

 emitting no sound or note that I ever heard, 

 and do not seem to be feeding on the vegeta- 

 tion upon which thej' congregate. Their col- 

 ors are now somewhat changed ; and, though 

 the black is as deep and shiny as ever, the red 

 gradually fades to a brilliant orange, and a 

 small pair of dull black wings couunenees to 

 make its appearance. 



In the country about New Orleans, Roma- 

 lea seems to attain its full growth some lime 

 in the early part of July. This is denoted 

 by the general appearance and habits of the 

 insect : certain parts of his exoskeleton have 

 become firm antl hard, and all his structures 

 and organs bear evidence of maturity. They 

 are no longer found in groups in the meadows 

 and forests, but dispersed, and occurring iu 

 all sorts of localities. Hundreds of them are 

 found invading the co-n--paths and roadways : 

 others climb on fences and trees. Many still 

 are yet observed, though now usiuilly singly, on 

 high grass and plant-stalks ; and these we may 

 easily discern at a long distance in the o[)en 

 fields. Even our houses are not altogether 

 exempt, at this season, from this blaek-mailed 

 vagrant. Manj- are killed by being trodden 

 upon, or accidentallv crushed iu other ways ; 

 for they are slow to get out of one's road, and 

 disinclined to jump much, — a feat in which 

 the males, from their lighter weight, far exceed 

 the larger and heavier females. 



It is about this time of the year that ■we 

 first begin to notice any thing approaching an 

 affaire d'umour on the [jart of this now truly 

 handsome insect. We now see many couples 

 apparently regardless of those who behold their 

 awkward and highly fantastic addresses. The 



