358 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



disturbed, each preferring rather to jump away from his pur- 

 suer. In the heat of the day, they are more apt to use their 

 wings than at other times, flying then only a few feet or yards. 



The many smaller species of Melanopltis are quite diflScult 

 to distinguish off-hand in the field. Especially true is this of 

 the females. The males are determined principally by the 

 differences found in the abdominal appendages, the distinctive 

 features of which can be seen clearly with a hand magnifier. 

 In the late afternoon of August twenty-fifth, I found a great 

 number of the lubberly locusts on some low sassafras shrubs. 

 Here, many had taken up positions on the leaves and stems 

 near the tops of the various branches, where they were quietly 

 settled among the dense foliage. It was half-past four o'clock, 

 yet they had evidently selected their night's roosts, which were 

 in the shade cast by large trees at the edge of the woods. Here 

 and there, also, the two -striped locusts mingled with the lubberly 

 species, enjoying the same sort of protection for the night. 

 This tendency that locusts exhibit to gather on the top of 

 herbage was again shown farther on in my travels, for nearby 

 I saw a number of red-legged grasshoppers enjoying a meal of 

 yellow pollen, while resting on the top of the goldenrod flowers. 

 Other red-legged individuals were sleeping, clinging to the 

 stems near the top of these plants. No eyelids, of course, 

 curtain the eyes of grasshoppers, and as a result they seem 

 sensitive to a high degree to sunlight. The setting, or even 

 lowering of the sun to the horizon, which diminishes the actinic 

 rays, is sufficient to cause the hordes of these grasshoppers to 

 seek their night quarters. 



The two-striped locust, Melanoplus hivittatus especially, 

 dwells in pastures and meadows, both wet and dry, but one 

 may often find it along the roadsides. It feeds upon all kinds 

 of herbage, and is particularly fond of the various kinds 

 of succulent vegetation. This species matures about June 

 thirtieth, judging from the freshly mottled individuals I have 

 found at this time. They lay their eggs to better advantage 

 after a rain, when the earth is damp and affords better facilities 

 for burrowing in the ground. After a hedvy rain, August 24, 

 1905, 1 noticed one of these insects at a point where the sandy 

 soil was washed into the roadway. It was a female endeavor- 



