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Annual Reports of Academy of 
comes suddenly and without warning upon these canyons, which 
are sometimes several miles wide and some hundreds of feet deep. 
In their bottoms are groves of good sized trees, chiefly cotton- 
woods, along a channel which carries a trickle of water, swelling 
after rains to a considerable stream. Palo Duro Canyon, near 
Amarillo, is such a place, and there, along the Prairie Dog Fork of 
the Red River, we spent some most interesting and profitable 
hours. The fauna of these canyons, like their flora, was probably 
derived in large part from country lower down stream, and repre- 
sents an extension into a region of very different conditions on the 
plains level. At Amarillo, Mr. Hebard joined the writer, and six 
localities in the Staked Plains were carefully studied. 
The vicinity of Canadian, Texas, in the valley of the Canadian 
River proved to be a most interesting district. North of the river 
were high sandhills, which would strictly be called “Great Plains” 
on account of their position and general character, while the bluffs 
on the South side of the river were virtually the north escarpment of 
the Staked Plains. On the bluffs we had the good fortune to take 
some greatly desired specimens of a most interesting “crackler” 
grasshopper, a northern type which had never before been taken in 
Texas. The genus to which this species belongs has the interest- 
ing habit of performing aerial dances and while so doing giving a 
sharp penetrating crackling note. This is accomplished by the rub- 
bing of certain thickened veins of the wings one over another, and 
some of the species have very different notes, recognizable at once 
to the close student. As this is one of the genera which we have been 
critically studying for some years its presence is always a guarantee 
of excitement, for the insects are very active and generally wary, 
while the rocky and often dangerous slopes which they frequent 
are not preferred places for the necessary acrobatics. On the 
sandhills at Canadian many very interesting things were taken 
in their grass cover, and mantling thickets of wild grape and other 
plants. One of the strangest and most striking katy-dids found in 
the United States, was found in fair numbers in the tangles of grape 
vines. It is a vivid green anti cream colored insect, incapable of flight 
but with extremely large and powerful jaws, which it is very ready 
to use. Outside of our own collection very few specimens have 
been taken oi this genus, which occurs at a number of localities in 
Texas and also in northern Mexico. The jaws of several of the 
