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cimeter. With few exceptions, grasshoppers are solitary insects, nor are they often 

 sufficiently numerous to be injurious or attract attention. At the head of the family 

 systematists place a group of wingless forms represented in Canada by two species — one 

 restricted to the North-west, the other apparently common in Ontario and Quebec. The 

 latter is the spotted, wingless grasshopper of Harris, Ceuthophilus maculatus. This curious 

 insect lives in small communities under stones in damp woods and beneath the loose bark 

 of dead trees. It is rather strongly built, with stout hind thighs ; its general colour is 

 brown, thickly mottled with spots of a lighter colour ; the back is arched, and the crea- 

 ture has a smooth, shiny appearance as if Tarnished. It is entirely wingless, ovipositor 

 rather long and nearly straight. It appears to be somewhat carnivorous, as I have taken 

 it in cans baited with meat. The western insect is Udeopsylla nigra, Scud. It resembles 

 in form the preceding species, but is heavier and stouter ; the ovipositor is rather short } 

 and thick at the base. Colour, shining black. 



The next group contains the typical insects of the family, the green grasshoppers or 

 katydids. Most of these possess ample wings and can fly well. Some species live on trees 

 and shrubs, while others inhabit meadows and pastures. They are pretty and harmless 

 creatures, not being numerous enough to be injurious ; and owing to their retiring habits 

 and the similarity of their colour to the leaves and grasses amidst which they live, are 

 but seldom noticed even in the localities where they are most abundant. 



" The shrilling of these insects is produced by friction of the large veins situated 

 nearly on the inner margin of a talc-like plate at the base of the wing-covers. When the 

 insect shrills, the wing-covers are raised and the bases shuffled together." — Riley. The 

 shrilling of some of the southern species is quite powerful, and where the insects are very 

 abundant the noise is sometimes unpleasantly loud ; but in these northern regions the 

 notes of our grasshopper are weak, nor are the insects sufficiently numerous to attract 

 much attention. 



Our green grasshoppers may be divided into two groups, one containing the species 

 that Live on trees and shrubs, (the true Katydids) the other those species that live on the 

 ground or in tufts of rank herbage (the meadow grasshoppers.) 



Our commonest arboreal species is the narrow-winged Katydid, Phaneroptera curvi- 

 cauda, De Geer. It may often be observed resting on shrubs and young trees during the 

 latter part of summer, occasionally taking a short flight from tree to tree. It may be 

 recognized by its narrow and straight wing-covers, and by the male having a cylindrical 

 style curving from below upwards, and resting in the forks of a furcate appendage which 

 projects from the end of the abdomen. The ovipositor of the female is rather short and 

 curved abruptly upwards, the extremity being toothed on both sides. The female deposits 

 her eggs in the edges of leaves, as discovered by Miss Murtfeldt. Prof. Riley describes the 

 note of this species as a soft zeep, zeep, sometimes uttered singly, but generally thrice in 

 succession. 



While passing through its earlier stages this species wears a more varied dress than 

 the simple green of the adult insect. In the larvce the colours are purplish-black and 

 white, arranged in minute squares on the head and body, the antenna? and legs bein<* 

 marked with rings of the same colours. The pupa is green, varied with purple on the 

 sides, and adorned with a double row of crimson spots on the dorsal surface. The mature 

 insect is wholly green. It may be found during August and September. 



The Oblong-winged Katydid, Phylloptera {Amblyconypha) oblongifolia, De Geer, is 

 green like the preceding species, but may be distinguished from it by its larger size, and 

 by the oval form of its wing-covers. It appears to be rare in Canada. I have not seen 

 any account of the earlier stages of this insect, but in the latter end of June, 1885, I 

 found two larva? which, I think, probably belonged to this species, as they were entirely 

 pale green ; and on August 1st, 1885, I found two pupa?, also green (curvicauda is marked 

 with purple and white when immature), and I know of no other arboreal species in 

 eastern Canada. 



The Broad-winged Katydid, Platyphyllum concavum, Harr, may be distinguished 

 from our other species " by the greater length and convexity of the wing-covers, which 



