Article beginning on page 401.
Psyche 6:401, 1891.

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February 1893.1
PSYCHE.
A MELANISTIC LOCUST.
BY A. P. MORSE,
In the latter part of July, 1892, I had
the good fortune to stumble upon a
thriving settlement of that elegant locust Paroxya atlantica Scudd. in the near
vicinity of Cambridge, namely, on the
bank of Charles River at Faneuil station. This find was unexpected from the fact
that this species is a southern locust
and, I believe, has been previously
taken in New England only in the
southernmost portions. Several weeks
later I took one male in a meadow at
Newtonville, at quite a distance from
the river. These two localities are the
only places in which I have met with
this species north of Connecticut,
where I have taken it at Niantic in a
situation similar to that at Faneuil, and at Stamford in the long sedge of bushy
pasture meadows, at an elevation con-
siderably above tide-water.
At Fanenil the first specimen taken,
a female, was captured while sweeping
over some weeds at the edge of the salt- marsh in search of other Acrididae. and
seaich being made, a number of speci-
mens, mostly males, were secured.
These were found to be most plentiful
on a species of Spartina, or cord-grass, along some of the ditches and tidal run- ways, and while quite active were not
difficult to capture, usually trying to
escape observation by sidling around
the stout grass-stems in preference to
flight, which was resorted to only when
alarmed.
WELLESLEY, MASS.
Among those secured on this occasion
was one male which presented a
marked contrast to the others in being
deep greenish-black in color, with a
peculiar oily lustre which became shin-
ing on the smoother portions of the
body, particularly on the sides of the
pronotum, and the thoracic and abdomi-
nal sterna. A fuller description is
appended.
At a second visit a few days later
three more black males were secured,
and also two female nymphs as deeply
colored as the adult males. No black
adult females were taken, though
several secured at this time and at a
third visit were extremely dark in
coloring'.
The dark, heavy-bodied females,
which seemed to prefer remaining- on
or near the rubbish of dead stalks and
weeds covering the ground, were not
noticeable objects; but the more active, black males were quite conspicuous
against the green background of the
higher zone of growing vegetation
which they frequented.
Parova atlantica ~cudd. Melanistic male.. Description of fresh specimen, taken at, Faneuil, Mass., July 22, 1892.
Head, thorax and abdomen deep greenishi
black. Tegmina translucent, brownish fus-. cous, with brownish- to greenish-black veins and venules. Wings transparent greenish, the veins and venules dark except in posterior '
third of anal field, darkest in anterior an& axillary fields.




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402 flcLm. [February 1893.
Eyes greenish-black with brownish reflec- tions. Antennae greenish-black, the articu- lations pale.
Abdomen with the overlapping caudal and
pleural margins of each segment paler green- ish-black, these paler markings enlarged anteriorly on sterna 6, 7, and 8, to form very obtusely triangular pale spots.
A large
circular pale spot on sternum g reach-
ing the caudal margin. The elevated cepha- lic margin of sternum 10 pale in median
portion.
Fossal membranes deep brown. Femora I
and 2 deep sage green, lightest on proximal thirds of caudal faces. Posterior femora black at tips, passing into dark brownish- green on the external face, and olive-green on the internal face and in tibia1 groove; dusky herring-bone markings on both faces ; a dusky spot on the proximal end of the
upper groove and another with oblique edges one-third the distance toward tip.
Tibiae deep greenish-black; the posterior shining black at proximal end with a narrow sage-green annulus beyond, widest inside. Spines black. Tarsi deep greenish-black
above, paler beneath, especially on the
callosities and pulvilli.
A NEW AMERICAN LACINIUS.
Lacinius is a genus of Phalangiidae.
It was erected in 1876 by Thorell for P. horridus Panz. (Sopra alcuni Opilioni
d'Europa e dell'Asia occidentale, Ann.
mus. civ. st. nat. Genova, vol. viii,
1876). Simon (Arachnides de France
tome vii, 1879) united it to Acantho-
lopus Koch, I think, on good grounds.
But as Acantholopl~us is preoccupied, I
believe, by MacLeay in Coleoptera, it
may be best to use Lacinius ; especially so since Simon considers P. horridus
Panz. as the type of Acantholophus.
Lacinius is closely related to certain
species of Oligolophus by the spinous
eye-tubercle and anterior margin of
cephalothorax ; also by having promi-
nent spines on the femora of the palpi.
It differs in having the eye-tubercle
more remote from the anterior margin
of the cephalothorax. I believe the
American forms can be farther separated
from Oligolophus in not having false
articulations in the metatarsi. The legs are shorter than in Oligolophus.
Two
species of Oligolophus have been de-
scribed from U. S., 0. $ictus Wood
and 0. ohioensis Weed. The latter I
should place in Lacinius; it resembles
the European L. s$inosus Bosc. (ob-
tusidentatus Koch) ; while the species
which I describe below has more resem
blance to the typical species of the
genus L. hor~idus Panz.
Lacinius, Oligolophus, Mitopus and
Phalangium form a tribe of the Phalan-
ginae, distinguished by having a
prominently spinous eye-tubercle and a
group of spines on the anterior margin
of the cephalothorax. This tribe may
be called Oligolophini. It may be
divided into two groups, according to
the presence (Lacinius, Oligolophus)
or absence (Mitopus, Phalangium) of
prominent spines on the femora of the
palpi.
Phalangium longi$aZfis Weed
would according to some European




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