NOTES ON ORTHOPTERA. 



By Cyrus Thomas, Ph. D. 



Althou^^li the collection of OrtJioptera made last season was not so large 

 as some former collections made by the survey, yet it was one of consid- 

 erable interest, as it contained a few new species, and assisted in determin- 

 ing the range of other species already known. The collection was chiefly 

 made by Messrs. Carrington and Brown 5 a few' were collected by Dr. 

 Curtis. One very important bottle of specimens was collected by Dr. 

 Hay den personally, while temporarily separated from the main party 

 in Southern Montana; in this I found a new species of Platyphama, the 

 first of this genus foujid in the United States, though a few species have 

 been obtained from Mexico. It also contained a new species of Chryso- 

 chraon, somewhat peculiar in having the sides of the pronotum irregu- 

 larly waved and slightly converging in front. 



As the descriptions of the new species are given in my " Synopsis of 

 the Acrididae of Xorth America," which is now in course of publication, 

 I will not repeat them here, but will only add such notes in regard to 

 colors, habits, localities, &c., as are not fully given in that work ; and 

 in doing this I shall not attempt to arrange them systematically. 



I have not as yet made a thorough examination of the collection, yet 

 I have gone over it sufficiently to satisfy myself that there are uo new 

 species except those already mentioned. Although this is the case, the 

 collection is not without interest, as it brings to view forms which were 

 not seen in the broad intervening space between Southern Wyoming 

 and the borders of Montana. It also reveals the interesting fact that 

 (Edipoda atrox, Scudd., hitherto found only in California, re-appears in 

 the Yellowstone Basin. In the same basin we again meet vfith Becticus 

 trilineaUis, Thos., which has not been seen west of the dividing range 

 of the Rocky Mountains. The ubiquitous Caloptenus spretus is seen in 

 nearly every bottle of the collection from Ogden northward. 



The following species were found in the Yellowstone Basin, probably 

 all from the limits of the National Park: Caloptenus spretus, Platyphama 

 Montana, Pezotettix obesa, Stenohothrus curtipennis, (Edipoda atrox, (E. 

 iindulata, Pecticus trilineatus. 



It is somewhat singular that but two or three crickets are found in 

 the entire collection. 



The collection which I made during ray excursion to the northwest was 

 comparatively small, as I did not attempt to collect any except those 

 species or varieties which appeared to be new, or where there existed 

 some doubt in my mind as to the coloring, in which case notes were 

 made at the time while the specimens were fresh. As before stated, I 

 give these notes without any attempt to arrange the species systemat- 

 ically. 



In addition to the collections mentioned, I also received, specimens 

 from Jefferson County, Alabama, collected by Dr. G. T. Deason ; from 

 East Tennessee, through Theophilus Rogan, esq.; and from Mississippi, 

 I suppose through Mr. D. L. Phares ; also from the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment a very valuable collection made by Professor Glover, in Florida, 

 some years ago. 



In the collection from Mississippi I find a very large, fine specimen of 



