186 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



Camptonotus scudderi is found in the Atlantic States, from Delaware southward 

 wliere it dwells among trees, especially the various species of oak. It is a very inter- 

 esting species, and possesses characters belonging both to the stone crickets and the 

 true green grasshoppers. Its form is similar to that of the former, whQe the head is 

 large, oval, and much broader than the prothorax and not deeply sunken into it. The 

 eyes are ovate and situated on the sides a little back of the basal joint of the antennse, 

 which they exceed a trifle in lengtJh. The antennae are remarkably long, being at least 

 five times the length of the body exclusive of the ovipositor, which is ensiform, curved 

 upwards, compressed and acute, reminding one of the ovipositors of some of the grass- 

 hoppers. The legs are very short and moderately stout, and furnished with spines and 

 cushion-like tarsi well adapted to the uses to which they are put. The species is of 

 an ochreous-yellow color above, pale beneath, with black eyes and a dark spot on the 

 dorsum posteriorly. It is active and shy, and during the day conceals itself by draw- 

 ing together the edges of leaves or by using the deserted nests of some caterpillar. 

 While thus hidden, its long antenna are wrapped several times around its body. There 

 is an allied species whicli is known to inhabit the island of St. Thomas. Both species 

 are apterous and without musical apparatus. 



The true grasshoppers and katydids, with which every one is familiar, are all essen- 

 tially herbivorous, and live among the dense foliage of trees as well as of all sorts of 

 shrubs and other low vegetation, where they remain quiet during 

 the warmer part of the day. These are the meriy choristers that 

 make our woods and valleys ring with their pleasant songs during 

 the evenings of late summer and early fall. They are chiefly noc- 

 turnal in their habits, but not entirely so, for each afternoon during 

 their courting-time, and long before the sun has disappeared in the 

 west, a few of them may be seen flying about from place to place, 

 while others are occasionally heard in their retreats as though tuning 

 their instruments preparatory to the grand evening concert. 



These interesting and well-known locustarians are to be met 

 with in all countries that lie within the temperate and torrid zones ; 

 and while the species are of moderate size and plainly colored in 

 temperate climes, they are of great variety both as to size and form, 

 and color, in the warmer countries. 



Xiphidium fasciatum, a small meadow grasshopper, common 

 throughout the New England States, has the ovipositor straight and 

 sword-shaped. A' brevipennis, as the name indicates, has the wings 

 abbreviated ; it also differs from the preceding species, which it 

 otherwise resembles, in having the ovipositor reddish-brown through- 

 out, while in JC. fasciatian it is gi-een at its base. Jl. eiisifer, which 

 is met with in tlie South and West, has the ovipositor very long and 

 straight, and of a brownish color which deei^ens toward the apex. All our sj)ecies live 

 among the low vegetation of meadows and open grassy fields, where they deposit their 

 long, cylindrical whitish eggs, which are either thrust into soft pithy stems or inserted 

 between the leaf-sheaths and stems of various grasses. They are generally laid in a 

 series of from six to a dozen or more one against the other. In Europe there are a few 

 species of this genus, while others are known to inhabit portions of Asia and Africa. 



The female of the smooth, glassy-green meadow grasshopper, Orchelimum glaher- 

 rimum, which is common throughout the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, 



Fig. 262. — Wing of 

 Orchelimum vul- 

 gare ; a, stridu- 

 latiug organ. 



