THE GRASSHOPPERS. 



The Grasshoppers belong to a large 

 and interesting group of insects. To the 

 uninitiated observer these insects are all 

 as shoppers''" and for them he has only 

 this one common name. Mr. W. S. 

 Blatchley, in a recent report on those of 

 these insects found in the state of In- 

 diana^, relates an instance that occurred 

 when he was seated in the lobby of a 

 hotel. A large ''lubberly locust,''' at- 

 tracted by the light, flew into the room. 

 "Several of the guests., men of intelli- 

 gence, saw me pick it up and immediately 

 surrounded me and asked me what it 

 was. I told them that it was a locust or 

 grasshopper, and that fifty or more spe- 

 cies of the same family of insects occur 

 in Indiana. All seemed much surprised 

 and a number of them made the state- 

 ment that they thought there was but one 

 kind of grasshopper in the state," 



The Grasshoppers belong to that order 

 of insects called the Orthoptera, a name 

 derived from two Greek words meaning 

 straight and a wing. The name is very 

 appropriate for this group of insects for 

 the wings when in repose are lain against 

 and lengthwise of the body. There are 

 two pairs of wings, which are more or 

 less developed, though in some species 

 they are wanting. The insects of this 

 order may be divided into two classes : 

 the running Orthoptera. which includes 

 the cockroaches, earwigs, walking: -sticks 

 and walking-leaves, and the leaping Or- 

 thoptera, to which group belong the 

 Grasshoppers, locusts and crickets 



The common Grasshoppers which fre- 

 quent meadows, pastures and roadsides 



: known as the short-horned forms and 

 belong to the family Acridiidae. a word 

 derived from the Greek diminutive mean- 

 ing little locusts. They possess the four 

 pairs :: wings, the inner two being mem- 

 branous and used in flying, and tee zuter 

 two. coarser and simply a covering for 

 the more delicate inner pair. 



The call notes of the Grasshoppers, 

 which are only made by the males, are 

 produced in two ways. "In one group, 

 whose members call only when at rest, 

 the sound is produced by rubbing the in- 

 ner surface of the hind femur against 

 the outer surface of the wing covers. 

 Landois has shown that in this group, 

 the inner surface of the femur is fur- 

 nished along the lower margin with a 

 longitudinal row of minute, lancet- 

 shaped, elastic teeth, ranging in number 

 from eighty-five to ninety-three, which 

 are scraped across the veins of the wing 

 covers, thus producing a low buzzing 

 sound.'''' In a second group the call notes 

 are usually produced during flight by 

 "rubbing together the upper surface of 

 the front edge of the wings and the un- 

 der surface of the wing covers." This 

 instrumentation rather than vocalization, 

 causes a crackling sound which is not 

 dissimilar to that of burning stubble. 



There is another family of Grasshop- 

 'pers (Locustidael which includes the 

 long-horned species or katydids. They 

 are green in color and have very long 

 antennae ; are more delicate and fragile 

 than the short-horned species, and are 

 notable singers. The musical organ of 

 these Grasshoppers is "found at the base 

 of the overlapping dorsal area of the 

 wing covers and usually consisting of a 

 transparent membrane, of a more or less 

 rounded form, which is crossed by a 

 prominent vein, which, on the under side, 

 bears a single row of minute file-like 

 teeth. In stridulating. the wing covers 

 are moved apart and then shuffled to- 

 gether asrain. when these teeth are rubbed 

 over a vein on the upper surface of the 

 other wing cover, producing the familiar 

 so-called katydid sound." Some of the 

 species have two calls, one that is used 

 only in the night, and the other during 

 daylight. Not infrequently these Grass- 

 hoppers will utter the night call durine 



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