Article beginning on page 21.
Psyche 6:21-26, 1891.

Full text (searchable PDF)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/6/6-021.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

February 1391 .I PSYCHE. 21
science which deals with the.diseases of cultivated plants. Fourth, those which
destroy other property ; in this category are the insects attacking furs, woollen
goods, etc., and the food stuffs, which
belong to domestic economy and at the
same time to commerce ; library insects
belong to library economy and so on.
Fifth, those directly beneficial to man, which includes the bee, the silk worm,
etc., industries which form one of the
primary divisions of agriculture. Sixth, those indirectly beneficial to man by de- stroying the injurious insects ; these in- sects of course belong to the sciences
that consider the insects which are their victims.
Finally, to recapitulate, scientific en- tomology is a department of biology,
economic entomology of agriculture.
They have all the difference between
them that there is between a pure sci-
ence and an economic science. Can we
as a society include them both ? I think we should not. On the other hand the
economic entomologists are nearly all
at the same time scientific entomolo-
gists. These we can and do welcome.
A LIST OF THE ORTHOPTERA OF ILLINOIS.-11. BY JEROME MCNEILL,
LOCUSTIDAE.
I 9.
Scudderia cwvicauda De Geer.
This is an abundant species in Illinois
in suitable localities. Its favorite haunt is the wild meadows and prairies cov-
ered with coarse grasses and weeds. It
is the only one of the katydids that
flies freely in the daytime. It is in fact crepuscular rather than nocturnal. It
may be seen flying at any hour of the
day, but its note is not generally heard until the middle of the afternoon.
The
note cannot be supposed to represent
more than the first two syllables of the "Ka-ty-did" or "Ka-ty-did-n't" of its
congeners. It is made but once and
the rasping jerky sound has been very
well represented by Mr. Scudder as
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK.
6zrv.k
It has been found at Moliiie as
early as the 2 1st of July.
20. Scudde~ia fuscata Brunner.
This species is more abundant than the
last but it too must be looked for in the right place. It is even less domestic in its habits than curvicaudu. The latter
is sometimes found about houses and
gardens in town but the former is almost never seen in town. It may be looked
for in the shrubs and undershrubs of
open woods and clearings and in weedy
fields and meadows. Its note is indis-
tinguishable from that of cdcuzda
but it is much less frequently heard.
The earliest recorded date of its cap-
ture at Moline is August 4th.
2 I. Amblycorypha oblongifolia De
Pncht 6 021-27 (prc.lTO). hfp //psyche nitclub orgR46-0021.htd



================================================================================

22 PSYCHE. [February 1891.
Geer.
This species like the last is par-
tial to shrubs but it is much more com-
mon in the vicinity of houses in towns.
Its note is a quick shuffling sound which resembles "Katy" 01- LKaty-did" very
slightly. It sometimes flies in the eve- ning but much more rarely than S. cw-
vicauda. It makes its appearance in
the neighborhood of Moline about the
first of August.
32. A. rotundifoZia Scudder. This
species resembles the preceding in song
and habits. In northern Illinois it
makes its appearance about the tenth of
August.
23. Mcrocentrumlawifolitim Linn.
I have never captured this species at
Moline nor have I heard its note there,
which may be represented by the sylla-
ble "tic7' repeated from eight to twenty times at tLe rate of about four to the sec- ond.
It is a tree-loving species, very
common in Missouri, according to Ri-
ley, and therefore presumably common
in southern Illinois.
24- CyrtophyZZus concavus Harr.
This is the true " Katydid," common
wherever there are trees.
Its song is
better known and the insect itself less
known, because of its arboreal habits,
than either of the other katydids. This
species moves about so little that it is not unlikely that in many cases an indi- vidual spends its whole life upon a single tree. I have listened to the song of one katydid on a certain tree every even-
ing for more than two months. I have
noticed repeatedly that on any evening
when they are singing there are the
same number of individuals, as indicated by the number of songs.
Of all the
specimens I have collected on the ground or had presented to me, probably a
dozen, only a single one was a male.
I have collected in sweepings hundreds
of specimens of the young of Scudderia
and Amblycorypha but not one of Mi-
crocentrum or Cyrtophyllus ; but if Mi-
crocentrum does not leave the trees when in the larval and pupal stages it certainly does when it reaches maturity. It is
then a great wanderer, coming frequently to the electric light. I have never
known Cyrtophyllus to come to a light.
So far as I know this is the only species of Orthoptera in which the male is not
smaller and more active than the female. It is the only green, winged Locustid
with which I am acquainted that does
not have the wings longer than the ely-
tra. These facts are not improbably
mutually related. It may be surmised
that, in the evolution of species, the katy- did that developed in the greatest degree its musical apparatus had the least need of hunting up his partner when the mat-
ing season came round, and as it was
so well protected by its form and color
and arboreal habits as to have little need of wings, these organs have gradually
degenerated into a musical and protec-
tive apparatus. As the male was re-
leased from the necessity of hunting up
the female, he would naturally lose after a time his slighter but more active body : it is easy to see how arboreal habits
once acquired may react upon the entire
organization. If at first glance it seems strange that two species so much alike
as Oecanthus niveus and Oecanthus




================================================================================

[February 1891.
PSYCHE.
fasciatus should differ so much in sing- ing habits, the latter singing as con-
stantly in daytime as at night, while the former is strictly nocturnal in its song, we have only to consider, in order to
remove the difficulty, that fascia/zts,
being terrestrial, is not easily exposed by his song to the attack of birds, while niveus would inevitably be discovered
should he venture to sing when his bird
enemies were most active. This con-
sideration will explain equally well, of course, why the arboreal katydids,
Microcentrum, Amblycorypha and Cyr-
tophyllus, are silent in the day time
and why the only one of the group that
sings in the clay time is terrestrial rather than arboreal. The case of Conoce-bJz-
a h robustus offers a still better illus- tration of the truth of this theory. This species lives both upon trees and in the grass ; but while its song may be heard
in the grass while the sun is high, I
have never heard it from trees until after dark.
25. Conoce^phalus ens* Harr.
This species is common in Northern Il-
linois from the first of August until
frost. It occurs as frequently along the weedy roadsides and in the gardens of
suburbs as in the country. Its song is
a loud rasping zip-zip-+ repeated in-
definitely. It does not begin to sing
until dark.
26. ConocefiaZus nebrascensis Bru-
ner. Is a less common species than the
preceding ; not reported farther east
than Illinois, but occurring as far west as Nebraska. It is more shy in its hab-
its than ensiyer, never being found, so
far as I am aware, about the streets of a town. Like both of the other species
occurring here it seems to have a great
liking for Johnston grass, a species of
Andropogon ; but it is by no means par-
ticular in its habitat, as it may be found in little colonies in weedy or grassy pla- ces throughout the locality it inhabits. If ensigeg* may be said to sing the first part of the song of Orchelimum vulgare,
the well-known zip-zif-zip-ze-e-c-e, ne- brascensis may be said with equal truth
to sing the last part of the song, that rep- resented by the ze-e-e-e ; but the sound is much more resonant, being really
in quality much more like the song of
a Cicada, but not so loud and without
a swell. It begins to sing earlier in
the evening than ensiyer.
27. Conoce$haZus robz~stus Scudd.
My cabinet contains a single specimen
of this species captured on the sand-hill referred to below. Its song is indistin- guishable from that of dissimilis. The
specimen mentioned above was captured
the 28th of August.
All the species of Conocephalns seem
to possess more intelligence than is
usual in Orthoptera and they are about
the most difficult of the order to ap-
proach. In escaping they usually slip
or fall into the grass instead of jumping or flying ; but they seem to fully under- stand that they are very well protected
by their color and form. If approached
very cautiously they often remain quite
.
still upon the stem of grass upon which
you have surprised them with the usu-
ally well-founded expectation that you
will not be able to distinguish them from



================================================================================

24 p5'2T'HE. [February 1891.
the green herbage around. If they think
it worth while to make some active
movement to escape, they will frequently slip round on the other side of the stem and walk down to the ground or off
upon another plant. Unlike most Or-
thoptera they do not use their front legs in holding to the mouth the thing upon
which they feed. Instead of biting they
seem to wrench or tear away pieces from
the stems or leaves.
28. Thyreonotus pachymerus Burm.
This is the first Orthopteron hatched
in the spring in northern states. It
may be easily recognized by the gray
top and shining black sides of its pro-
notum and by its very long and slender
antennae. Very little seems to be
known of its habits, but in captivity it shows a decided taste for animal food,
and it may be not unreasonable to sup-
pose that it is at least partly carnivo- rous in the wild state. It is found usu- ally in shaded ravines, upon the bare
ground or the trunks of trees or under
rotten logs. First appearance, Aug. 9.
29. Xi$hidium fasciaturn De Geer.
Abundant everywhere, in blue-grass
meadows especially. Its song is a faint
echo of that of Orchelimum vulgare with
the Lbzip-zip" omitted. It is, I believe, the first of the green grasshoppers to
reach maturity and its faint little quaver is the first note of the great chorus that sounds in all the meadows from the
first of August until the first of October or until cold weather. I have captured
.this species as early as the first of July. 50. XipJtidium brevipenne Scudd.
This is a much less common species
than the preceding but it is not rare in damp meadows. It first appears here
about the middle of August.
3 I. Xiphidium ensiferum Scudd. I
have obtained numerous specimens
about Moline which I refer to this spe-
cies with certainty, but in many cases I have the greatest difficulty in deciding whether others should be referred
to this or the preceding or still other
species. Both species apparently may
have the under side of the posterior
femora armed with spines and both
seem to have forms in which there is a
peculiar modification of the grasping
organs of the male. Further study may
enable me to tell certainly whether they are two or more or only one species.
I
have two forms which I place here that
have wings and elytra extending much
beyond the knees.
32. A7-i$h/diu~n sp.? A single speci-
men which is apparently deformed has
the ovipositor growing out of the upper
side of the apex of the abdomen with
the convex side up. In shape and size
it resembles the preceding species but
the ovipositor is curved instead of
straight and two and one half times as
long as the body.
33. Xifhidium stricturn Scudd. Not
rare in places similar to those frequented by brevipenne and ensifem. It is
found from the first of August to the
middle of October or later. My cabinet
contains a single specimen of this spe-
cies with elytra extending to the knees
and with the wings .25 of an inch
longer.
34. Xi/hia?ium nemorale Scudd.




================================================================================

February 1891 .] p.S'rcfi?E. 25
This is a wood species. It is found most conlmonly on sparsely wooded and
rather barren hillsides. It is almost
equal in size to stricturn. The elytra
of the males are unusually ample al-
though not longer than the abdomen
and the veins of the stridulating appara- tus are conspicuo~sly large.
The song
is louder than that offasciatum ; it con- sists of two parts, the first a short
abrupt note wliich is very well repre-
sented by the syllable zip, the second is the familiar ze-e-e which lasts about half a second and is made from one to five
times ; the zift is not repeated. I have not found it at Moline earlier than Au-
gust 20th.
35. OrcheUrnnm vulgare Harr.
Abunchint thi-ougl~out the State. I have heard its note as early as the 21 st of
July. Its song is the familiar zip-efl-
z/'-zip, ze e-e-e-e.
The staccato first
part is repeated about four times, usu-
ally about twice a second ; the ze-e-e-e continues from two or three to twenty
or more seconds.
36. Orcheli~numglaberr/~~zu~~z Burin.
This species is very like the last and is very probably nothing more than a va-
riety of *are. While it seems to be
const,tntly larger and more robust it has the same form of pronotum. The wings
are of the same length relative to the
elytra, the posterior femora are similar in form, relatively of the same size, and destitute of spines on the under side.
The two stripes on the disk of the pro-
notum are not uncommon in vulgare. I
have a single specimen from Effingham
county, which is south of the center of
the State.
37. OrcJieZim~m longi$eå´nn Scudd.
This species, if I have correctly deter- mined it, is very like vulgare with long .
wings. It has, however, proportionally
shorter legs, longer wings, with the
elytra considerably shorter than the
wings instead of equalling them as in
vuIga.re. It is much less common than
the last mentioned species but it is not rare and is found in similar situations at the same time.
38. Orchelimum concinnu7n Scudd.
I have a number of specimens which I
refer to this species though the females with one or two exceptions differ in
coloration in a marked manner from
typical specimensi The specimens i-e-
fen'ed to are almost completely infus-
cated with the elytra lighter or even
green apically and the tarsi distinctly
green. But one specimen, a male, has
the brown stripe extending down over
the face. I have captured them. as early as the second week in August. They
are partial to low, (Limp or swampy
meadows.
39. OrcAeIimum &gripes Scudd.
This handsome species is about as com-
mon at Moline as vulgare. It is not at
all shy but is likely to be found in the grass or shrubbery about the house. It
even shows a preference, I have thought, for human society. During the past
summer an instance came under my ob-
servation of one keeping a place over
the wooden finish of a doorway for
more than a week. If he ate during
that time he must have been obliged to
leave his post to satisfy his hunger, and he probably returned many times to the
place. The song is difficult to distin-




================================================================================

26 ~~~. [February 1891.
guish with certainty from that of vul-
pare hut usually the zip-+ is repeated
only once or twice very rapidly and the
ze-e-e-e-e does not continue so long. The earliest recorded date for it here is the 1st of August.
40. Orchelimum silvaticum n . sp. A
species occurs here not very rarely that I have thought until recently to be 0.
agile De Geer, but a careful compari-
son with typical specimens of that spe-
cies shows so many points of difference
that I think they should be considered
specifically distinct.
Length of body $ 70
$ .70; length of
elytra $ .60 to .70 $ .56 to .70; length of posterior femora $ .59 $ .59; length of an- tennae $ ? 22; length of ovipositor !# .32. Very similar to agile but different in the fol- lowing particulars : The elytra and wings are shorter and in the male, at least, the latter do not exceed the former. The posterior
femora are relatively shorter and less atten- uated apically though similarly armed with about three small spines on the under side of the apical half. The pronotum is con- spicuously larger and the lateral lobes are decidedly wider at the humeral sinus. The brownish stripes on the disk of the pronoturn are more remote from each other. In the
proportions of the body, pronotum, hind
femora, wings and elytra this species ap- proaches vulgare much more closely than
agile but it can be separated at once from the former by the presence of the spines on the under side of the hind femora.
I found this Orchelimum first on corn
afterw . rds more commonly in open
places in woods. Its stridulation is quite distinct from tlnt of vulgare. It con-
sists of the same two elements but the
zip is repeated many times very rapidly
so as to make almost a continuous sound
and the ze-e-e-e is comparatively short
and very constant lasting about eight
seconds. The first part of the song lasts from three to five seconds.
I have not
taken this species before the 7th of
Sep ember.
41. OrcheZinzum &?anturn n. sp. A
second species occurs here which I
think has not been described unless I
am mistaken in my identification of
longifemis. In this case the supposed
new species might be the latter.
The