THE MEADOW GRASSHOPPERS. 161 
the body, curved upwards like the piercer of the female. 
This grasshopper belongs to the genus Plianeroptera , so 
named, probably, because the wings are visible beyond the 
tips of the wing-covers ; and, as it does not appear to have 
been described before, I propose to call it angustifolia* 
(Fig. 76,) the narrow-leaved. It measures from the fore- 
head to the end of the abdomen about three quarters of an 
inch, and to the tips of the wings from an inch and a half 
to an inch and three quarters. Its habits appear to be the 
same as those of the oblongifolia. It comes to maturity 
some time in the latter part of August or the beginning of 
September. 
From the middle till the end of summer, the grass in our 
meadows and moist fields is filled with myriads of little grass- 
hoppers, of different ages, and of a light green color, with a 
brown stripe on the top of the head, extending to the tip of 
the little smooth and blunt projection between the antennae, 
and a broader brown stripe bounded on each side by deeper 
brown on the top of the thorax. The antennae, knees, and 
shanks are green, faintly tinted with brown, and the feet are 
dusky. When come to maturity, they measure three quar- 
ters of an inch or more, from the forehead to the end of the 
body, or one inch to the ends of the wing-covers. The 
latter are abruptly narrowed in the middle, and taper thence 
to the tip, which, however, is rounded, and extends as far 
back as the wings. The color of the wing-covers is green, 
but they are faintly tinged with brown on the overlapping 
portion, and have the delicacy and semi-transparency of the 
* I formerly mistook this insect for the Locusla curvicauda of Do Geer, which 
is found in the Middle and Southern States, but not in Massachusetts, is a larger 
species, with wing-covers broadest in the middle, and different organs in the male, 
and belongs to the genus Phyllaptera.l 
[ 7 This is the true curvicauda ; it was figured by Drury as P. myrtifolia, but ho 
unfortunately confounded it with a species somewhat resembling it from South 
America, which has caused some authors to refer his figure to the one described 
by Linnfeus; but that is a different insect, belonging tQ the genus Phylloptera. 
1 he synonymy of this species is, Phaneroptera curvicauda , De Geer = P. myrtifolia, 
Drury = p. Sfjitcntrivnalis , Serv. = P. angustifolia, Harris. — U iiler.] 
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