Article beginning on page 247.
Psyche 8:247-248, 1897.

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August 1898.1 PSYCHE. 247
geographical barriers due to geologic
or climatic changes, come to be distinct species - species often distinguished
only by superficial differences in color and markings of plumage, etc. The par-
asites have remained practically unaf-
fected by the conditions which have
produced the differences among the
birds ; the temperature of the host's
body, the feathers as food, all of the
environment of the parasite is practically unchanged. The parasitic species thus
remains unchanged, while the ancestral
Larus or Anas species becomes differ-
entiated into a dozen or score of specific forms, all with a common parasite. If
this proposed solution of the problem
may be accepted, it introduces a factor
into problems of distribution, where
parasites are concerned, which I do not
recall having seen presented before.
NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND ACRIDIIDAE, IV9- ACRIDIINAE, I. BY ALBERT P. MORSE, WELLESLEY, MASS.
The New England species of Acridii-
nae or spine-breasted locusts are readily recognized by the presence of a promi-
nent spine or tubercle projecting from
the prosternum between the bases of the , anterior pair of legs. Sixteen species
of this subfamily have been taken in
New England; one of these, however,
Schistocerca americana, being of purely
adventitious occurrence. Those that
form the fauna proper to the district
fall into two groups: two species of
Schistocerca, and thirteen species of
Melanopli. The former genus is at
present undergoing revision by Mr.
Scudder; the latter group forms the
subject of his monumental "Revision of
the Melanopli " (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.,
vol. xx, pp. 1-42 I) to which the student is referred for a general discussion of
the group, for systematic characters,
and information concerning its extra-
limitally.
I have adopted here the sequence of
genera and species given in that work,
preceded by Schistocerca, as follows:
Schistocerca (3 sp.), Hesperotettix (I
sp.), Podisma (I sp.), Melanoplus (10
sp., in this order,- aflanis, srndderi,
mmcus, fasciaius, femur-rubrum, extrem-
us, minor, ~oZZinus, fernoratus, /tmi'ft;Za- tvs) , and finally, Paroxya (I sp.) . The student dealing with specimens from
New England or the northeastern States
alone, however, will find a different ar- rangement of his collection preferable,
e. g., the following :- Schistocerca (3
sp.), Paroxya, Hesperotettix, and Podis- ma (each monotypic in New England),
and finally Melanoplus, in this order:
mancus, scudderi, af/anis, femur-rubrum, exf~emo, fascia fus, minor, coZZ&s, Wc-




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PSYCHE. [August 1898,
tulatus, fernoratus,- or the reverse. The advantage of this arrangement is that it is easy to remember and greatly facili-
tates comparison of the species most
resembling each other, thus, mawus and
scudderi, atZanis and femur-~zibrum, etc. The terminology of species is that of
Scudder's Revision. The other works
referred to are either general treatises or those dealing especially with New
England locusts, familiar to the student of Orthoptera and listed in previous
parts of these Notes. Two articles by
Mr. Scudder of especial interest in this connection will be found in Psyche,
(18961, p. 367, and the Proc. Boston
Soc. Nat. Hist., XIX, p. 284, the former containing a key to the Melanopli which
may be of assistance to the student.
Certain features of this I have em-
bodied in my own, which, however, like
those in previous parts of these notes, is constructed with especial reference to
the needs of the novice in determining
specimens, artificial characters being
frequently used instead of systematic,
which are often appreciable only after
long study of a group. Our species
will all be readily recognized with the
exception of the females of certain
species of Melanoplus. These are,
without exception, the most difficult to discriminate of all our locusts, owing to the variability of every available charac- ter, -width of interspace, form of pros- ternal spine, valves of ovipositor, cerci, markings, etc.
The present group is much less attrac-
tively colored than the Oedipodinae
though in the living state several of the species are decidedly handsome. While
the prevailing color of most of the
species of Melanoplus is dull olivaceous, a striking variation occurs in feww-
rubrum, attams, and minor, individuals
of both sexes being occasionally found
which have the face, top of head and
pronotum bright rose-red. Other color-
variations are noted in connection with
the various species.
There is in most
species of Melanoplus considerable
variation in color locally, according to the character of the station where found, and also seasonally, whether collected
early or late in the fall. As a rule
specimens collected after a number of
hard frosts are duller, darker and more
suffused than summer examples, the
coloration of the individual being appar- ently considerably modified by such ex-
posure.
In the preparation of this article I
have examined over 3000 New England
specimens collected chiefly in person
and now in my collection, each species
being represented, save in two instances, by a large series of specimens. In
addition, I have examined for special
points, a considerable number belong-
ing to Mr. Scudder, to whom I am
indebted for favors in a variety of ways, and whose publications I have freely
used, with the result of greatly lighten- ing my labors.




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