292 



by the underlying boulder drift, the capacity of the soil to retain moisture 

 is quite high. For this reason all the soils are very productive and are 

 in consequence in a high state of cultivation. About Lafayette, with in- 

 significant exceptions, practically all the land is under cultivation. On the 

 upland the principal crops are corn, oats, clover and wheat, while the 

 bottom lands form one unbroken stretch of corn. The only waste places — 

 oases for the naturalist — are on the upland an occasional grove or more 

 rarely a swampy depression, on the bottoms frequent, though small, bogs 

 marking the places where the underground waters ooze out from the mar- 

 ginal bluffs. In such places the rarer and more interesting Orthoptera 

 are to be found. 



Okthoptebax Habitats. 



No attempt at an exhaustive study of the various Orthopteran habi- 

 tats was made owing to the limited time that could be spared for that pur- 

 pose. Consequently in the following pages only the grosser features of the 

 habitats are mentioned. About Lafayette, owing to the intense cultiva- 

 tion of the region, nearly all the country is open, in consequence of which 

 the dominant Orthoptera are campestral types. Where the ground is un- 

 filled it is usually covered with a close growth of blue grass {T'oa 

 pratensis), which in damper spots is replaced by foxtail (Cluetochloa 

 viridis and glauca). In such situations the grasshoppers usually encoun- 

 tered include the following species : 



Syroula admirabiJis, Arphia xanthoptera, Ghortophaga viridifasciata, 

 Encoptolophus sordidus. Dissosteira Carolina, Melwwplus atlantis, Meian- 

 oplus femur-mli rum, Orchelimum vulgure, Conocephalus strictus and 

 Xemobius fascial us. 



In cultivated lands this assemblage is largely characteristic of the 

 grassy borders of roads, paths and fence-rows. Most of the species named 

 continue abundant in such places with the possible exception of Arphia 

 xanthroptera and Ghortophaga riridifasciata., both of which appeared to 

 be rather scarce in the particular cultivated tracts examined by me. 



A second group of Orthoptera is characteristic of dry upland Woods. 

 On the level uplands woodland is represented only by widely scattered 

 groves, in most of which the trees have been thinned out. This allows 

 a rich growth of blue grass which is largely utilized as pasturage for 

 cattle. Such pastured woodlands are almost invariably very barren in 

 Orthoptera, those that do occur being similar to those found in the open 



