The Western Cricket. 
5 
are entirely hidden by the large cape, or pronotum, back of the 
head, but this can be raised, exposing the wings to view. The an¬ 
terior pair of wings of the male are shown twice natural size at 
Plate I, Fig. F. 
OBSERVATIONS ON HABITS. 
Breeding Habits. From about 8 o’clock in the morning until 
noon or a little after, I noticed many of the females carried about 
with them, at the end of the abdomen, a large mass of white, jelly- 
like material (See Plate I, Figs. C and D). Suspecting that this 
phenomenon was connected in some way with the breeding habits 
of the crickets, I made observations which resulted in learning that 
this white, blubber-like mass is received entirely from the male 
while in copula. So, whenever these white bodies are observed, 
one may know that the egg-laying season is already on or about to 
begin. Mr. W. W. Miles told me that he saw a great many of the 
females with these masses attached to them on his ranch on June 
27. This would indicate that egg-laying begins about the first of 
July, which agrees well with observations by Mr. John L. Yoast, 
who told me that egg-laying began in 1903 about July 1st, and 
lasted till the 10th of September, at least. 
The crickets were laying eggs freely during all the time of my 
visit. Dr. W. P. Headden was in Routt county in August, and 
reported the females depositing eggs freely on the hills between 
Trout Creek and Grass Creek, two miles northwest of Dunkley, 
August 17. 
The Eggs , when ready to be deposited, are dark chocolate 
brown in color, but when the surface has dried off, the color is 
a uniform light gray. The eggs are about one-quarter of an inch 
in length by one-sixteenth of an inch long, and are nearly straight. 
They are not deposited in compact clusters, but are distributed 
loosely to the depth of about an inch, those at the surface often 
protruding a little. They are shown, natural size, at Plate I, Fig.G. 
The eggs are deposited anywhere that the female is able to in¬ 
sert her ovipositor as the crickets are wandering about after the 
active migrating season is over, but they prefer hill tops or hill 
sides, and soil that is not very hard. On the hills near Eddy, where 
the swarm under observation was staying, I saw, on different days, 
one favorite area of several acres where the females were busy egg- 
laying. The ground was literally blackened with them, but at my 
approach, they would draw out their ovipositors, which are in¬ 
serted almost vertically, and go hopping away. Two samples of 
surface soil were taken at random from the top of this hill and the 
eggs counted. In one instance there were over 2,000, and in the 
other over 3,000 eggs to the square foot of surface. If the eggs 
should all hatch, there would barely be standing room for the young 
hoppers, and the egg-laying season was only nicely begun. 
