133 
certainly is not, as far south as this latitude; Acridium americanum 
is not in this State; Truxalis brevicornis is not; there is some uncer¬ 
tainty on this point in reference to Caloptenus bivittatus , and C. femur- 
rubrum. As a matter of course the determination of this question 
depends somewhat upon the latitude. 
INJURIES BY GRASSHOPPERS. 
As all the Acridians are vegetable eaters and continue to feed from 
the time they are hatched from the egg, through all their stages, as 
larva, pupa and perfect, it must necessarily follow that they are inju¬ 
rious, except where their attacks are confined to noxious or useless 
weeds. As a general rule they appear to feed on a large variety of 
plants; for example Caloptenus spretus is known to feed on almost 
every plant that comes in its way when migrating out of its native 
habitat; but some observations made in Colorado lead me to believe 
that when not pressed by hunger nor migrating it does not attack 
plants so indiscriminately. Although our common red-legged species 
(C. femur-rubrurn) is a somewhat general feeder, yet it evidently eats 
in preference the grasses and prefers the open areas where the ground 
is rather dry and the grass not very rank. On the other hand C. 
bivittatus or the striped Caloptenus, and C. differentialis or the Lubberly 
Caloptenus prefer patches where the grass and weeds are rank and 
succulent, and appear to feed on rank weeds in preference to grass. 
At one place in Nebraska I observed a few years ago a* peculiar 
variety of the Lubberly Caloptenus teeding almost exclusively on one 
particular weed. At another time I found the striped species feeding 
on and undergoing its moults among the leaves of horse-radish. 
The favorite spot of the American Locust ( Acridium americanum') 
in this vicinity is among the little willows and low bushes along a 
ravine that runs through a field near town, the borders of. which are 
covered by a heavy growth of rank grass. At another point, a favor¬ 
ite spot is a thicket of low oak bushes, where grass and weeds are 
also abundant. It appears to feed on the grass and weeds, but is 
fond of fiying up into the bushes and low trees when disturbed. 
This species, w 7 hich does not extend further north than the middle of 
the State, appears in the perfect state about the first or middle of 
July—that is, the red variety or true American Locust; the yellow 
variety ambiguum , is much less numerous, and appears much earlier 
in the season. It is this variety which nppears occasionally to pass 
the winter in the perfect state. It is a little remarkable that there 
are two precisely similar varieties of the very closely allied African 
migratory locust— Acridium peregrinum. In this case the yellow va¬ 
riety is the more southern, and possibly the same thing is true in 
reference to our species. 
