5G8 ORTIIOPTERA. 



from the larvoe in having large •u'ing-pads. On the basal joints 

 of the abdomen are two cavities covered each with a mem- 

 brane, and containing a vesicle filled ■vvitli liquid, "which is sup- 

 plied b}^ a nerve sent from the third thoracic ganglion. The}' 

 were considered -by Latreille and Burmeister to be vocal or- 

 gans, but more correctly it would seem, b}- J. Muller and von 

 Siebold as organs of hearing. 



This family embraces insects of gigantic proportions. The 

 migratory locust (Acr^'dium migratorium) is a most destructive 

 insect from its voracity and immense numbers. Swarms of 

 grasshoppers are common in the far West where they commit 

 great havoc in crops. Our Caloptenus femm'-rubrum has at 

 times, though not of late j-ears, gone in immense swarms. 

 The larvae of many species live through the winter, and appear 

 often in March on unusually warm days. 



In the genus Opomalea the acute antennas are broad and 

 flattened at base. In 0. hracliyptera Scudder the fore wings 

 are but little more than one-half the length of the bod3\ In 

 Chloedltis the hinder edge of the pronotum is square or 

 rounded ; there are no foveoljB on the vertex, and the lateral 

 carinse of the pronotum is parallel, or quite nearly so. 



Chloedltis conspersa Harris is light bay, sprinkled with black 

 spots, with a black line on the head behind each e^-e, and ex- 

 tending upon the thorax. jStenobothrus differs in having fove- 

 olne on the vertex, and the lateral ridges on the pronotum 

 incurved. Mr. S. I. Smith states that the structure of the 

 ovipositor of this species is " beautifull}- adapted to a remark- 

 able habit in the manner of depositing the eggs, which seems 

 not to have been noticed before among Orthoptera. The eggs 

 are deposited in old logs, in the under sides of boards, or in 

 any soft wood lying among the grass which these insects 

 inhabit. By means of the anal appendages the female exca- 

 vates in the wood a smooth round hole about an eighth of an 

 inch in diameter. This hole is at first almost perpendicular 

 but is turned rapidly off in the direction of the grain of the 

 wood, and runs nearly parallel with, and about three-eighths 

 of an inch from the surface ; the whole length of the hole 

 being an inch or an inch and a fourth. A single hole noticed 

 in the end of a log was straight. The eggs, Avhich are about 



