﻿160 FIELD AND FOREST. 



Acrogcus. Quite a number of plants have crept up the Valley of the 

 Mississippi and thence up the Ohio and the Wabash. 



Two check lists of the Ferns of North America, one by Wm. Ed- 

 wards, of South Natick, Massachusetts; the other by John Robinson, 

 of Salem, Massachusetts, are worthy of notice, and are a help in 

 making exchanges. J. W. Chickering. 



The "Lubber" Grasshopper. 



The following notes on the habits of this large grasshopper Romalia 

 microptera, were jotted down from observations made in the Department 

 of Agriculture two years ago c A few days ago I was surprised to find 

 a large' wardian case in my room swarming with little black grasshop- 

 pers, about half an inch long. At first I was not a little surprised, 

 but recollecting that I had imprisoned in this case for a few days in 

 the fall, two or three pairs of this grasshopper, which had been re- 

 ceived from a correspondent in Florida, they were easily accounted 

 for. 



The female of this insect deposits her eggs, to the number of forty 

 or fifty, in the soil. The eggs are linear in shape, somewhat resem- 

 bling very small grains of oats, though perhaps less pointed at the 

 end, and measuring probably a quarter of an inch or more in length. 

 The eggs in our wardian case hatched about the 27th of February, but 

 whether that is the usual date of hatching or the warmth of the room 

 helped to develop earlier than is usual in a state of nature, I cannot 

 say. The young grasshoppers are black, marked with bright red, and 

 keep these colors through several moultings ; the pupa? are also black, 

 but the thorax is shaded and mottled with yellow or orange-red, while 

 the abdomen is banded and the hind thighs bordered with the same 

 color. The mature insect is is nearly three inches in length, if is of a 

 yellow color, barred and spotted with black. The wing covers are 

 extremely short, reaching only half way to the extremity of the ab- 

 domen, and are, of course, perfectly useless for flight. The wing- 

 covers in color are yellowish, barred and marked with black, and 

 tinted with rosy-pink. The wings themselves are very small and are 

 a beautiful brilliant carmine, edged with black. 



The insect is quite common through the Gulf States, and at times 

 is quite plentiful, and somewhat injurious on "truck farms," as it de- 



