ORTHOPTERA. 



187 



Fig. 263. — Conocephalus ensiger. 



oviposits in the stems of various pithy plants, and especially in the tassel stem of 

 Indian corn. 0. vulgare possesses similar habits and is found throughout, the eastern 

 and middle States. 0. concinnum is from Massachusetts, and has the wings a trifle 

 longer than the elytra, while 0. longipennis, a Texan species, has the elytra and wings 

 very long. It also has two narrow brown bands along the top of the pronotum. 



There are several genera and many species of these green grasshoppers in which 

 the vertex of the head is produced into a cone-like projection. The sjsecies are all 

 moderately large, and have the elytra long and leaf-like. Their legs are also long and 

 slender', and the antennte filiform ; the 

 ovipositor is long, flat, and sword-like. 

 These insects live in the grass and in 

 trees, having, in fact, much the same 

 habits as the katydids, to which they 

 bear a striking resemblance. Conoceph- 

 alus ensiger is the commonest species 

 throughout the eastern portion of North 

 America. It is generally of a pea-green 

 color, though an occasional individual is 

 found which is of a brownish straw color. 

 The female lays her eggs between the root-leaves and stems of various plants. Cono- 

 cephalus robustus is a much stouter species than the preceding, and has the elytra, 

 which are either green or light brown, irregularly dotted with minute black spots. It 

 has been taken on the sea beach at Cape Cod. C. obtusus is a Georgian species, and 

 C. uncinatus, which has robust legs, is cited as coming from Alabama. C. mandibularis 

 is found throughout southern Europe, where it frequents wet meadows. 



Copiophora mucronata, in which the cone-like projection is very long, has been 

 taken in the greenhouse connected with the department of Agriculture in Washington, 

 D. C, where it must have been reared from eggs that were brought with plants from 



some tropical country. It is a short, thick-set insect 

 with much shorter and stronger limbs than possessed 

 by any of the species belonging to the genus Conoceph- 

 alus. The wings are also proportionately broader 

 and shorter than in the members of that genus. 

 There are eight other described species of Copio- 

 phora, ajl of which inhabit various parts of equatorial 

 America and adjacent islands. 



The true katydids, of which there are at least a 

 dozen species found in the United States, are at once 

 recognized by their large size, broad and leaf-like 

 wings, and bright green colors. They are strictly 

 arboreal in their habits, and spend the greater portion 

 of their lives among the rich, green foliage which 

 they so closely imitate in color. Cyrtophyllus con- 

 cavus, the true Katydid from which the popular 

 name is derived, is met with throughout the cen- 

 tral and eastern States. This and an allied species, 

 which is found in the South, are our only representatives in which the length of 

 the wings is exceeded by the length of the wing-covers. These are very broad and 



Fig. 264. 



■ Cyrtophyllus concavust 

 katydid. 



