OETHOPTERA— LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 847 



Mrtipes (the Gryllus Mrtipes of Say), I judge is a southwestern form, which 

 ranges chiefly south and west of the line of your survey, as I have seen it 

 in no other collection. It is possible that Major Powell's collection, which I 

 have not seen, may contain specimens of this interesting species. 



Having pinned a number of your specimens by the side of a small 

 collection from Southern California, I observed a somewhat singular con- 

 trast in color; the prevailing color of the Calopteni and QHdipodce from Cali- 

 fornia being a bright yellow, while the corresponding species of your col- 

 lection were largely rufous. I have been inclined to believe, though not 

 fully satisfied on the point, that, in the West, the general or ground color of 

 species which inhabit barren spots, is, to a certain extent, dependent on the 

 color of the surface soil. 



I find also a specimen of (Edipoda undulata, Thos., which I supposed 

 was confined to the section east of the Rocky Mountain range ; but this col- 

 lection shows that it also belongs to the middle or intermontane area. I 

 find in the collections of both years a fine large Acridium, which is new, a 

 description of which, by your permission, has been published, and is con- 

 tained in my synopsis. But the most interesting object of the collection is 

 a specimen of Epliippigera tschivavensis, Hald. I have expressed the opin- 

 ion, in my synopsis, that Haldeman's specimen was the pupa of some spe- 

 cies of (Edipoda ; but a slight examination of this specimen is sufficient to 

 show any entomologist that it is an imago, and that Haldeman was right in 

 describing it as new. Other notes in regard to the collection will be found 

 under the proper heading. 



Since the publication of my Synopsis, I have received from Dr. C. Stal, 

 of Sweden, a copy of his Becensio Orthopterorum, published about the same 

 time, which introduces quite a number of changes in the arrangement of 

 the groups of this order. As this author is the leading orthopterologist in 

 Europe, I have thought it proper to call attention to such changes as relate 

 to our Orthopteral fauna. 



I have also received from Mr. Otto Hermann a copy of his paper on the 

 Decticidce, recently published in the Verhandlungen der kaiserlicJi-kdnigliclien 

 zoologisch-botanisclien Gesellschaft in Wien, which contains a friendly criticism 

 on my provisional arrangement of this group of the Locustidce. As the 



