354 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
base of the tufted growth of grasses amid which they live. Here 
also the eggs are deposited, the ovipositor being thrust down 
between the sheath and stem of a coarse grass, such as Andro- 
pogon. Their stridulating powers make them well worth seeking 
out, one species in particular, common coastwise, being notable 
for the strident, piercing quality of its song, which renders it 
audible at a long distance. Four species inhabit New England, 
and adventive examples of another are occasionally introduced 
with garden truck. 
Key to Species of Neoconocephalus, 
A. Vertex of head short, equal to or less than width between eyes above, 
usually margined with black beneath. 
B. Ovipositor of female much longer than hind thighs. Size small, slender. 
Cone of vertex distinctly longer than wide, the sides sub-parallel. 
Round-tipped Conehead, N. returns, p. 356. 
BB. Ovipositor of female shorter — or barely longer — than hind thighs. 
Size large, robust. Cone very blunt, its length scarcely exceeding its 
width at base. 
Blunt-tipped Conehead, N. triops, p. 358. 
AA. Cone of head longer than width between eyes above. 
C. Cone tapering, rather blunt, without black marking beneath. 
Robust Conehead, N. robustus, p. 355. 
CC. Cone of moderate length, margined beneath with black A-shaped 
marking The Sword-bearer, N. ensiger, p. 354. 
CCC. Cone very long, its entire under side black to basal tooth. 
Unmusical Conehead, A^. exiliscanorus, p. 357. 
The Sword-bearer; Conehead ed Grasshopper. 
Neoconocephalus ensiger (Harris). 
Fig. 53; Plate 12, figs. 5, 6; Plate 15, figs. 11, 15. 
Conocephalus ensiger Harris, Rept. Ins. Mass. Inj. to Veget., p. 131 (1841); 
Treatise, 3d ed., p. 163 (1862).— Smith, Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist., 
vol. 1, p. 145 (1868); Rept. Ct. Bd. Agric. for 1872, p. 359 (1873).— 
Fernald, Orth. N. E., p. 22 (1888).— Walden, Bull. Geol. Nat. Hist. 
Surv. Ct., no. 16, p. 133 (1911). 
Grass green, paler on the face, yellowish on abdomen beneath. 
A pale line on the lateral carinae of the pronotum, often faintly 
bordered with purple. Antennae purplish. Cone of vertex of 
head with black A-shaped marking beneath, bordered laterally 
by a pale line which is continued backward to the pronotum; 
