360 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



The Mottled Sand Lqcust 



The mottled sand locust will be readily recognized in the 

 plate photographic illustration of three individuals, which 

 shows the external structural characters of this species quite 

 perfectly.^ It frequented the circumscribed sandy area pre- 

 viously described in the chapter on the habitat of the Orthop- 

 tera and the landscape there depicted. Here it was associated 

 with the maritime locust, to which it bears a close resemblance. 

 The upper surface of its body is protectively colored like the 

 sandy ground upon which it lives, and it is not easily detected 

 until flushed from the ground. The males, which are usually 

 quite wild when approached, make a faint crackling sound as 

 they arise in the air from the ground. The females are noiseless, 

 and somewhat less active on the wing, though on hot sunny 

 days they fly a hundred feet or more. 



One will often find that this and some allied species are 

 sometimes disinclined to leave a certain favored locality when 

 once they become established. I recall an instance of this kind 

 occurring at Lakeside, Michigan, on July twenty-fourth. I came 

 across an isolated sandy area of about twenty yards in extent 

 near the bluff at the border of Lake Michigan. This area was 

 surrounded by such plants as Equisetum and a long-leaved, 

 sand-binding grass, which was encroaching on its margins. 

 Within this sandy enclosure I found a number of the mottled 

 sand locusts, and its companion species, the maritime. The 

 majority of the individuals seemed to be males, and when they 

 were startled they flew only a few yards. Nearly every one 

 was careful not to leave this area or alight outside of this limited 

 habitat. 



I have also found this species inland from Lake Michigan 

 in sandy fields covered with bunchgrass gmd weeds, and occa- 

 sionally along railroad embankments. The young appear 

 scattered about on the sand in the early part of the summer 

 and by the last of July have usually reached maturity. Its 

 near congener, the maritime locust, is often found closer the 

 water-line of the lake, on light wind-blown sand, covered here 

 and there by bunchgrass. 



^ See plate on page 363. 



