INSECTS
sometimes either one or the other is omitted. A very pretty species of the genus is the handsome meadow grasshopper, Orchelimum laticauda (or pulchellum) shown in Figure 30. When at rest, both males and females usually sit close to a stem or leaf with the middle of the body in contact with the support and the long hind legs stretched out behind. Davis says the song of this species is a zip, zip, zip, z, z, z, quite distinguishable from that of O. vulgare.
Still smaller meadow grasshoppers belong to the genus Conocephalus, more commonly called Xiphidium. One of the most abundant species, the slender meadow grasshopper, C. fasciatus, is shown in Figure 31. It is less than an inch in length, the body green, the back of the thorax dark brown, the wings reddish-brown, and the back of the abdomen marked with a broad brown stripe. Allard says the song of this little meadow grasshopper may be expressed as tip, tip, tip, tseeeeeeeeeeeeee, but that the entire song is so faint as almost to escape the hearing. Piers describes it as ple-e-e-e-e-e, tzit, tzit, tzit, tzit. Like the song of Orchelimum vulgare it apparently may either begin or end with staccato notes.
THE SHIELD BEARERS
Another large group of the katydid family is the sub-family Decticinae, mostly cricketlike insects that live on the ground, but which have wings so short (Fig. 32) that they are poor musicians. They are called "shield bearers" because the large back plate of the first body segment is more or less prolonged like a shield over the back. Most of the species live in the western parts of the United States, where the individuals sometimes become so abundant as to form large and very destructive bands. One such species is the Mormon cricket, Anabrus simplex, and another is the Coulee cricket, Peranabrus scabricollis (Fig. 32), of the dry central region of the State of Washington. The females of these species are commonly wingless, but the
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