UHLER ON INSECTS. 361 



them were to be met with in the grass and tall weeds, but they showed 

 no disposition to assemble or to fly in the air. In the region near Colo- 

 rado Springs, their insect enemies were quite numerous. The Tachina 

 and another kind of fly were observed in many iustances^balancing over 

 a grasshopper that was trying to crouch in the thickest of the weeds and 

 grass or to dodge sideways at each attempt of its enemy to reach it with 

 her ovipositor. Immense numbers of the grasshoppers were lying dead 

 upon the ground, perhaps crushed by the masses of their fellows that 

 had crowded above them. The prodigious rapidity with which they 

 sometimes strike the ground must cause the destruction of considerable 

 numbers of them. Besides this, the local storms which arise from the 

 mountain-region around Pike's Peak catch some of the swarms and dash 

 them suddenly toward the surface and against the hill-sides. At this 

 place also, the females were much more numerous than the males, and, in 

 the cases that I was able to count them, the former were ten times as 

 numerous as the latter. Several other forms of Calopteni also belong to 

 the hills and depressio ns of the surface west of Colorado City, and still 

 other species inhabit the various kinds of soils near CaSon City. Calop- 

 tenus Mvittatus Say was moderatelj^ abundant near Denver, near Colo- 

 rado Springs, and in the valley of the Arkansas. (Edipoda Carolina 

 Linn, was on the plains wherever I went. 



Crickets were quite uncommon. Beneath stones and sticks near Col- 

 orado City, and in the mouth of the caiion of the Arkansas, a few speci- 

 mens were found ; but those from the first-named place were only half 

 grown. A single specimen only was met with near Denver, and that 

 one had taken shelter beneath rubbish in a garden. Xipliidium was 

 very common in shrubby spots near the Platte River adjoining Denver; 

 and CEcanthus was numerous at Colorado City and in the valley of the 

 Arkansas. 



Neuroptera and Pseudoneuroptera were seen in every locality, but my 

 time was too limited to permit me to use it in chasing them. The few 

 that I captured were usually such as flew near me, or settled upon the 

 bushes and trees close by. On the dry sandy parts of the plains, two 

 species of Myrmeleon were frequently around as I swept my net through 

 the taller grass or flowers and weeds. In Clear Creek Caiion, JEsclma 

 of two species, a Gomplius^ and two kinds of Agrion, occurred at occa- 

 sional intervals between the ridges of the mountains. Biplax semicincta 

 Say was present in large numbers upon a wet spot of ground west of 

 Denver. Not being a verj- wild species, it was readily captured, and I 

 was thus able to procure a fair series of them in their several varieties. 

 Hemerobius was taken in Clear Creek Canon ; and, in the same place, as 

 well as at Denver, a species of Chrysopa was quite common. Chloroperla 

 was abundant in the mouth of Arkansas Caiion. Diplax ruhicundiila 

 Say was noticed at various points on the railroad leading through 

 Kansas, chiefly on wet spots upon the farms. In the same or similar 

 localities, I noticed Libellula pidchella Drury, L. basalts Say, quite 



