392 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



sounds from all these Orthopteran denizens seem to arise from 

 every quarter of the compass. 



Nearly a month later, or on the night of August twenty- 

 fifth, I found the day-loving locusts of the genus Melanoplus 

 at the roadsides in great numbers, asleep on the stems and 

 flowers of the herbage. Again, I heard the shrilling notes of 

 the multitudes of grasshoppers, as convincing evidence that 

 abundant life was astir in the night hours. New notes, too, 

 were now in evidence. On the goldenrod flowers, for instance, 

 the four-spotted tree crickets were rejoicingly active in their 

 calls. Near them were many more striped meadow crickets 

 than I had hitherto seen or heard. Some were engaged in 

 courtship, others were satisfying their appetites on the golden 

 pollen. The beautiful Texan katydid was now perched upon 

 a leaf, and paying little heed to the flash of the lantern rays as 

 they illumined the surroundings and brought him into full 

 view. A little further on I found myself again listening to 

 the high-pitched shrilling of the ever-present cone-head. This 

 time he made me wonder at his ability at instrumentation, 

 his slender body fairly shaking from the vibrations of his wings. 

 Finally the view is repeated again, the little green grasshoppers 

 keeping up their fiddling, while on a stalk of tall grass; each 

 scene urging us on in the search. Even though there is a 

 lingering memory of the mosquito pests, which annoyed me 

 during the katydid excursions, I look back with pleasure to 

 the acquaintances made by lamp-light at the fence row. 



The Short-winged Green Locust 



The landscape illustration on page 394 is that of a view 

 near Miller, Indiana. It shows, in the wet grassy foreground, 

 the typical habitat of the short-winged green locust, Dichro- 

 morpha viridus. The three individuals of this species, which 

 are represented in the plate photographic illustration, were 

 found here September twenty-first. This locust usually takes 

 on the bright green color of the herbage among which it lives. 

 It shows very little activity when approached. It either tries 

 to hide in the grass, or perhaps jumps away to avoid its enemies. 

 The wings have become atrophied, and they are short and not 



