Ne ae 
OS MISC. PUBLICATION 657, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
The young walkingsticks are pale green, but as they become mature 
they change. to dark green, gray, or brown. The adult females meas- 
ure up to 3 3. inches in length and are stouter bodied and longer than 
the males. Most of them molt four or five times and a few molt six 
times. After the last molt, in August, mating takes place, and egg 
laying begins 6 to 10 days later. The eggs are appr oximately 2.5 mm. 
m “length, “bean- shaped, and polished black with a whitish stripe on one 
side. They are dropped promiscuously from the trees to the ground, 
where they remain in the litter to hatch the following May or a year 
from the following May. Under dry conditions many of the young 
fail to extricate themselves completely from the egg capsule and die. 
Two species of tachinid parasites have been reared from the walk- 
ingstick in Wisconsin—Biomya genalis Coq. and Phasmophaga 
antennalis Towns. The latter species gains entrance to the host by 
laying its eggs on the foliage which is eaten by the walkingstick. 
Graham (193) also states that several kinds of birds, especially « crows 
and robins, concentrate in infested areas late in the summer. For 
control in Michigan, Graham recommends that the favored black oak 
type of forest be converted to safer types made up of white oak and 
other nonsusceptible hardwoods and conifers. Although the use of 
ground fires during the time the eggs are in the litter will control this 
insect, it is not recommended because of other damage it may cause. 
An arsenical spray (p. 53) or dust applied the first “part of June is 
effective and feasible in recreational areas. (See caution on p. 23.) 
Diapheromera velii Coq., the prairie walkingstick, frequents tall 
shrubs and grasses in the Great Plains west of the Mississippi but 
rarely becomes abundant except in small local areas. It is very similar 
to D. femorata in size, shape, and color, but differs in having the head 
slightly more elongate, the middle femora of the male without the 
gray bands found on D. femorata and the seventh abdominal segment 
of the male no longer than the ninth. 
Diapheromera blatchleys (Caud.) occurs from the Great Plains to 
the Atlantic coast and is similar in habits to the preceding species. 
Megaphasma dentricus (Stol), the giant walkingstick, is interest- 
ing because of its large size, sometimes attaining a body length of 6 
inches. It is similar in habits to Diapheromera femorata but never 
has been numerous enough to be destructive. 
Anismorpha ferruginea (Beauv.) occurs from just north of the 
Ohio River west to southeastern Nebraska, and east through the high 
country of the Carolinas and Georgia. It feeds on the foliage of trees 
and shrubs but has never become abundant. 
Famiry ACRIDIDAE 
The Grasshoppers 
The grasshoppers, sometimes called locusts or short-horned grass- 
hoppers, comprise a large family which has been very destructive to 
agriculture. The members are of all sizes and may be characterized 
by having short filiform or clubbed antennae, hind legs greatly en- 
larged for jumping, three-jointed tarsi with a pad between the claws, 
a very short inconspicuous ovipositor, a pair of narrow tegmina, and 
a pair of membranous fanlike wings. 
The-life history is much the same for all species. The eggs, gummed 
together to form pods, are laid 1 to 3 inches deep in the soil late in the 
