350 ORTHOPTERA OF NOVA SCOTIA. PIERS. 



Journ. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, p. 428, 1862) may here be repro- 

 duced for comparison, as it is not accessible in most 



libraries : 



"This is our most common species The head, thorax, and body, 



as well as the hmd femora, are pitchy black, the elytra of both male and female 

 are dark, sometimes jet black, but frequently of quite a light ochraceous brown; 

 indeed the elytra of almost all our species vary to this extent in coloration; 

 the elytra of the females generally cover about two-thirds of the abdomen, 

 although sometimes they entirely conceal it; those of the_ males extend to 

 the extremity of the abdomen; the ovipositor in this species is proportionately 

 shorter than in either of the preceding species [that is, G. luduosu^, abbreviatns 

 and angustus], and is also a smaller species than any of the preceding. Length 

 averaging a little more than half an mch; length of ovipositor in nine indi- 

 viduals .23 [i. e. .46 in. = 11.5 mm.] to .32 in. [i. e. .64 in. = 16.0 mm.], ave- 

 rage .28 in. [i. e. .56 in. = 14.2 mm.]; length of hind femora, .16 [i. e. .32 in. 

 = 8.0 mm.] to .21 in. [i. e. .42 in. = 10.5 mm.], average, .20 ia. [i. e. .40 in. 

 = 10.00 mm.]"* [It will be observed that the length of the o\'ipositor ave- 

 rages 1.4 times the length of the femur; while in- niger he gives it as only 1.11, 

 in angustus and abbreviatns as 1.68, and in luctuosus as 1.55 times.] 



Our form generally seems to agree most nearly with neglectus 

 of Scudder, although a few specimens may show a tendency 

 towards intergradation with the ordinary short-winged 

 pennsylvanicus with somewhat longer wing-covers. Scudder 

 in his paper just quoted^ seemed mostly to rely on metric 

 differences. Rehn and Hebard, along with other features, 

 draw some attention to the all-black hind femora and norm- 

 ally dark unicolorous wing-covers of the neglectus variant; 

 and to the brief reddish patch on the ventro-proximal portion 

 of the femur and the dark or paler wing-covers of the penn- 

 sylvanicus variant. (See page 340). As we have seen, 

 many of our specimens have a reddish patch on the femora. 



As to the claim of neglectus to any recognition whatever, 

 it may be mentioned that A. N. Caudell of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, in 1904-05 held that the smaller size 

 and shorter wing-covers of Scudder's neglectus certainly 

 entitle it to varietal distinction, and he refers to it trinomially 

 as G. pennsylvanicus var, neglectus, even though Scudder 

 himself, in 1902 had subordinated it as a synonym of Bur- 

 meister's pennsylvanicus (Can. Ent., vol. 36, p. 248, 1904; 



*1 have doubled the lenKtlis of ovipositor and fennir as given by Seiulder, for the reason 

 -that it is DOW known tliat he inadvertently used a half-size scale when n)easuring his forms 

 of Gryllus in the paper of 1802. This has been pointed out by Caudell and other writers. 



