THE INSECT WORLD. 



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with rank vegetation abounding in reedy grasses, in which they 

 lay their eggs, and among which they sport and sing, except 

 during midday. They are especially fond of eating the seeds of 

 grasses, and sometimes become troublesome from this habit. 

 The late mowing and burning suggested for Conocephalus will 

 answer in this case as well. 



We find quite a departure from the normal type in a series of 

 wingless or short-winged species erroneously called ''crickets," 

 and, more correctly, "shield-backed grasshoppers." In the 

 Eastern United States these are rare, found under stones or rub- 

 bish in woods, sometimes in caves. Some are blind, and others 

 have equally interesting structures, but are of little or no economic 

 importance. From their peculiar humped shape some are known 

 as "camel crickets." In the West these species become more 

 abundant, and, at the base of the Rocky Mountains, extending 

 up into the foot-hills, they find their true home. Here the 

 "Mormon cricket," Afiabms simplex, occasionally multiplies so 

 greatly that it migrates to the plains below, destroying everything 

 in its path. As the insects are wingless they move but slowly, 

 and may be often checked by ditching in their path. They are 

 very pugnacious, with cannibalistic tendencies, falling upon and 

 devouring any injured comrade, and indulging in free fights when 

 driven into a corner. A plowed field in their course forms a 

 barrier difficult for them to pass, and in such an army of the 

 insects can be materially reduced or exterminated by means of 

 heavy rollers. 



Yet more cricket-like are the clumsy, large-headed species of 

 Stenopalmatus, known on the Pacific Coast, where they occur, 

 as "sand-crickets." They are sometimes quite plentiful, but 

 have not been known as injurious, since they are partly carniv- 

 orous in their food-habit. 



The crickets belong to the family GryllidcB, and differ from the 

 LocustidcE in that they have the wings laid flat on the back, 

 the fore-wings abruptly bent down at the sides, and, in the female, 

 have the ovipositor cylindrical or needle-like, instead of flattened 

 or sword-like. This ovipositor usually has a little enlargement, 

 somewhat resembling a spear-head, just before the tip, which 

 facilitates placing the egg. The males are even greater musicians 

 than the LocustidcB, the entire wing-covers being modified into a 



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