Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

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founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
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Article beginning on page 45.
Psyche 9:45-46, 1900.

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April 190-1.) PS kTfffl,
7. Bl~~li spots conspicuous, arwngeil in transverse rows; black specks not always conspicuous. (N. Y., Mass. ; also collected by Flctcher in Canada, on @ercus ruhra.) . pettiti Ehrh.
ISlack spots minute, not definitely arisinged in tiansverse rows ; black speclts very distinct ; ground color pale ochreous. (Calif., Mexico.) mg'rojwtc/atiis Einh. & Ckll.
I have taken as typicid of gaZii'formis a specimen fiom the Riley collection, collected by 1. H. Mellichamp al Blutiton, S. C. Riley's description shows that
lie it160 included K. $ettiti under Hie same name. Mr. G. B. King has collected
ĺ´pef//'/ in Massachusetts
THE SPECIES OF THE OEDIPODINE GENUS IIELIASTUS SAUSS., OCCURRING IN THE UNITED STATES.
BY SAMUEL 11. SCUDDER. CAMBIUDGR, MASS.
Heliiistus was founded by Sri~isa~iie in 1884 on some Mcxic:in and Central
Aii"iric;in Oedipodinae. It was first
recognized as occurring in the United
States three years ago, when I referred
to it two insects which had been
described as species of Thrincus. Both
of these species also occur in Mexico,
hut wen* unknown to Saussure.
I can
now add another and undescribed
species, known to me from only a
single locality in California, and col-
lected by Mr. A. P. Morse. All these
northern species belong- to Saussure's
second division of the group in which
the lower posterior angle of the lateral lobes is not produced into a distinct
process. They are all of a light gray
color, more or less irregularly spotted
with brown, sometimes forming brief
transverse iniirkings when the insect is alighted ; the wings are glazed, often
iridescent, and generally, at least in
part, weakly tinted. The males arc
considerably smaller than the females.
The species may be separated as fill-
lows : -
Table of our s-pecies of HeJiasttts.
ax. Of large size.
Antennae at least
two thirds as long ns hind femora;
posterior process of metazona weakly
obtusangulate, often almost rectangu-
late ; descending lobes of pronotum
apically well rounded, falling distinctly below the level of the pleural lobe an-
terior to them.
b1. Larger. Descending lobes of
pronotun1 anguktto-rotundate below ;
wings hyalino-citron bitsally, weakly
infuscated apically . . aridus.
b*. Smaller. Descending lobes of
pronotum regularly rotundate below ;
wings pellucid, or faintly violaceous,
only the veins fuscous.
calif~cz~s.
a*. Of small size.
Antennae only half
as long as hind femora ; posterior pro-
furhe 9 045-47 (pre.1903) hfp //psyche aitclub orgWJ-OM5 html



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cess of metiizonit strongly i'ibtniiing~u- lilted, or broadly rounded ; descending
lobes of p~oi~ot-~m~ apically tiuncate.
not falling below the level ofthe flee
pleural lobe anterior to them.
4 li PSYCHE. !' \pn! iqoo,
ent. xxsix, 75 (1897); Cxt. Orth.
U. S., 44 (1900).
This species was described lq
Heliastus aridus.
T/;rinc7.;s a~idz~s Bi-LI~. , Proc. U. S. iiiit. mus., xii. 78-79. pi. I, fig. 2, 3 (aridus on plate ; avidus in text) (1890) : . .
Ril., N. A. filima, vil, 352 (1893);
Towns, Ins. life, 6, 31 (1893).
ffeliaslus aridtts SCLIC-Id, Can. ent.,
xxix, 75 (1897) ; Catal. Orth. U. S.
44 ( 1900) .
Originally described from Albn-
qiierque, N. Mex. (Brunei'), it has
since been recorded from Las Cruces,
N. Mcx. (Townsetid), and Panamint
Valley, Cal. (Riley). I have received
it from Las Cruces (Townsend) and
Mesilla, N. Mex., July I (Morse),
as well as from Juarez, Mex., July 3
(Morse). Mr. Morse tells me that it is
a common insect at Mesilla, found on
sand hills and the gravelly mesa,
where it is almost invisible, the color
and markings varying with the local-
ity ; it flies freely, but not far.
Heliastus californicus.
Th~/mti.s caJtfonr'ic-it^ Thoiii., Bull, U. S. geol. surv. ten'., i, no. 2, sci. i, 66 (1874) ; Glov. Ill. N. A ent., Oith., pi. 17, fig. 6, 7 (1874) ; Coq., Ins. life, i, 228 (1889) ; Bum., Pioc. U. S. nat.
inns. xii, 187 (1890).
Heiiost2{S ccijffornic-sis Sciidd.; Can. Thomas from specimens taken by
Crotch in Southern California, and has
since been mentioned as found at Los
Angeles, Cal. (Coquillctt), and in tlie
Cen'os IsI. off the coast of Lower Cali- fornia (Brunei'). I have seen specimens
from San Diego (Crotch), Indio, July
9 (Morse), Palm Spring's, July y
(Morse), Mohave, Cal., Aug. I
(Morse), am1 Rock Spring in south-
eastern California (Palmer), as well as
from some other unspecified point in
California, collected by Osleu Sacken,*
wlio reports it as found " among' boul-
ders of granite, the colors of which it
secins Lo mimic." I have it also from
St. George, Utah. Apr. 1-12 (Palmer),
from Saltillo, Mex., Mar. 21-35
(Palmer), and Sonora (Schott) , as well
as from Cape St. Lucas, Lower Cali-
foriiia (Xantns).
Heliastus minimus sp. nov.
Of small size, cinereo-testaceoiis, more or less embrowned above on head and prono-
turn, marked with brownish fuscous, the
face, gcnac, lower portion of lateral lobes and sometimes their whole metazoniil por- tion overlaid with cliiilky white. Head
prominent., the sciilpturing much as in H. califoriiicus but the face retreating more; ejes rather prominent, especially in inale; antennae short, sibout half as long as the hind femora, in no way attenuate or de-
pressed at apex, f~~sco-testaceous, feebly in- - -- - - - - - - - - -. - - - .
* Bwon Ostcn Sa&en collected Ortlioptei-a in Sonoma and Hariii Cos. north of San Francisco, but this inscct has not otherwise been reported from so nortliein a loc~iliiy, or farther north than Nohave.



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'uscated ;ipic:ill~, not banded. Pi-oiiotum ~narked vith brownish fuscous on the prozona beliind the eves find sometimes across the posterior inai'g'i:~ of the prozonal dihk, tlie front n'wgin of which is a little elevated especially :ihove nncl in the male, the dit.1~ of whole prozon:! tolerably smooth and nenrly plane, Ilie median ciirina very slight, the hind ni;u-$n strongly obtiisan~iliite or broadly rounded, the lateral lobes inferiorlv truncate not cxteuding below the level of the free pleural lobe. Tegmiiiii rather slen- der, subeqiinl. pale let-taceons, feebly ein- hrcwnei.1 ine.-'ially in proximal li:ilf\ fleckeil conspicuously with well clistrlb!~ted brown- ish fuscous spots; wings glisteninghJ fi 1' me, :I few of the veins sit extreme apex narrowly :ind inconspic~~ously inf~iscizted, sit least in the feniiile. Hind femora long and slender, The work of Coinstock and Needham*
ipon the wings of insects is decidedly an importiitit contribution to the subject, for a firin step lias been taken towsirils a satisfac- tory theory of venation. This advance has been iittitined by an extended study of the ti'iichcae which precede and, in. a broad way, determine the positions of tlieveins. Select- ingiimmature stages of generah'zecl repre- sentativcs of each older, the fiuti~ors arrive at a type of tracheiition which may fairly be taken to represent a primitive condition- an origin for more complicated types of
tracheation and venation. The lines along which fcpecializalio~~ appears to have occurred in the larger orders fire carefully traced and the processes fully and clcm-ly figured. Specializntion occuis either by the reduction (atrophy or cmlescence) or else by the addi- *Comtock, J. H. and Needham, J. G.
The Wings of
Insects. A scries of ~~rticles on the stiucti~re and devel- n e t of the wings of insects, with special reference to the taxonomic value of the characters presented by the w i g 124 pp., qo figs. Reprinted from Tine American Nali~ialisl. Itlima, S. Y. The Cornstock Pnblishiii? Co. pale testaceous, occasionally and especially :it base hoary, bifasciate above with brown- is], fuscous.
Length of body, 8, 1o.q mm., ?, 18
mni.; a~~tcn~~ae, 8, 3.5 IIIIII., y, 5 II~I~.: tegininii, 8, 9.5 n~n., 9, 16.5 inm.; hind femo~a, 8, 7 nirn., 9. 11 ~nin. One male is of unusual size, the te~inina measuring' 14 mm. in length, but otherwise there is little vdriation in the specimens from the nbove figures.
13 8 13 9. Palm Springs, Cal.,
July 9, 12, A. P. Morse.
r 1
1 he species is pec~iliiir for its sinail size, short antennae, slender hind fern- 0111, brief lateral lobes and broadly an- gulate metazonal process.
lion of veins from a multiplication of the br:inches of tlie principal veins. Fortu- nately the familiar termsadopted by Rcdten- bficher are retained.
Coii~iiitting ourselves to the autho~-s' con- clusions, pcrhaps too unreservedly, we were mildly shocked to find that the method fails of application among Triclioptera, most Dip- tera and the PIymenopteni, at least, because the correlation between trncliene and veins is almost lost. As the method seems to have justified itself, however, a critic can scarcely do more at present than to emphasize the necessity of caution in the employment of the method.
Especially instructive arc the discussions upon the wingsof Odonata, Ephemcrida and Orthoptera. The elytra of Coleoptera are definitely l~omologized with wings.
The palaeontologiciil evidence is rather summarily dismissed with the negative con- clusion that it does not contradict the
authors' results. Precisely on accottnt of the '< iinperfection of the record" does the close resern^ilaiice of the Devonian Xeno- neura to the hypothetical type of the authors acquire a value that makes the above conclu- sion unnecessarily cautious.




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