Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/174

* GRASSES. 148 GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. Sutton, Pcrmanenl and Temporary Pastures (l-ondon, 18S8) ; Stebler and Schroter, The liest J'orage Plants (trans, by McAlpine, London, 1.S89) ; Lamson-Scribner, Grasses of Tennessee (Kno.xvillo, 1892-94) ; Economic Grasses, Bulle- tin 14, Division of Agrostology, United States Department of Agriculture (1898), and otber bulletins of the Division; Vasey, The Agricul- tural (Irns'ics and Forage Plants of the United States (Washington, 1889). GRASS-FINCH. One of the most widespread and familiar sparrows of North America (Poo- ca:1es grainincus) . It lives in the fields and grassy opens, maUing its nest between the grass- stems, and fecxiing upon seeds and insects. Its habit of singing pleasantl}' in the early evening led Wilson Flagg to bestow upon it the name '■vesper sparrow.' It had earlier been known as the 'bay-winged bunting,' on account of the rufous wing-coverts. It may be recognized among its brown and streaked congeners by the white outer feathers of its tail displayed in flight. See Plate of Familiar Sparrows; Grassquit. GRASS-FROG. The common European brown frog (Rana temporaria), which is highly variable iu color, and possesses great power of color adap- tation (metachi'osis) . It is essentially teri'estrial in habits, and manifests many very interesting traits. Its range is extensive, covering all Cen- tral Europe and Asia to Japan, and rising to the height of 10,000 feet in the Italian Alps. It may become a most interesting and intelligent pet in captivity. "Xext to man," says Gadow. "there is no animal which has been studied so minutely, and has had so many primers and text-books written upon it; in spite' of all this, it is very little imderstcod, thanks to its rather aberrant and far from generalized structure'." One of the best and most easily accessible memoirs is Miv- art's The Ccmmon Prog, a volume of the Nature Series (London- and New York, 1874). The lat- est and best account of habits, etc., is by Gadow, Amphibia and Reptiles (London and New York, 1902). See Frog. GRASSHOPPER. A popular term applied to certain orthopterous insects of the families Aori- diidis and Locustidoe. The English (including the English colonists) call the Acridiidfe 'locusts,' and the Locustidoe 'grasshoppers.' Americans use the tenu grasshopper for both, the Acridiidfe including the short-horned grasshoppers, and the Locustidae the long-homed grasshoppers. The common grasshoppers of the fields, which are rather stout-bodied, with large hind thighs and strong powers of flight, belong to the Acridiid:r. They are frequently very destructive to crops; the Rocky Mountain grasshopper {Melanoplus spretus) damaged the grain crops of Colorado, Nebraska, and neighboring States in the years 1874 to 1876 to an extent of hundreds of mil- lions of dollars, and reduced thousands of fam- ilies almost to starvation. Allied species have done similar damage in the Argentine Republic, in South Africa, and in Algeria in recent years, and in Southeastern Europe in former times. Tlic best reme<lial measures in use at present consist in late fall plowing, to break up the egg-clu-i- ters; in dragging specially constructed coal-oi! pans through the fields to collect the young grass- hoppers; and in poisoning the insects by means of a bait consisting of moistened bran and ar- sentc. The commonest species in the Eastern United States is the red-legged grasshopper (Melanoplus femur-rnhrum), which quite closely resembles the destructive Western species, but which has shorter GRA.SSHOPPEU. .V lemale red-legged grasshop[jer depositing her eggs in the ground. wings. Its eggs are laid in the autumn in a compact pod beneath the surface of the ground, and the young, which are hatched in the spring, molt four or five times, and reach the full- grown winged condition in late July or August. Some of the eggs in the North may hatch in the autumn, showing a tendency toward a secoii'I generation, which probably develops in the south- ern part of the range of this insect. The red- legged grasshopper sometimes occurs in such great numbers as to seriously damage pasture lands in the restricted localities. See LoctJST. The long-horned grasshoppers (family Locusti- da') include those slender green forms with long antennaa called the 'meadow grasshoppers.' and also the interesting group ordinarily called katy- dids (q.v. ). as well as the dark-colored wingless forms found under stones and in the woods and in caves and which are known as the 'cricket- like' grasshoppers, or 'eave crickets.' Another group belonging to this family contains certain hard-bodied insects of strange appearance, known as the 'shield-bncked' grasshoppers, 'Western crickets,' or 'sand crickets.' One of the latter, belonging to the genus Stenopelmatus, is in the West supposed to be poisonous, although as a matter of fact it is perfectly harmless. Fossil grasshoppers of the family Acridiidse are known in fragmentary condition from rocks of as early age as the Lias of Switzerland and the Oolite of England, and members of the family LocustidcB have been found sparingly in the Ju- rassic limestones of Solenhofen, Bavaria. Several species of each family are known from the Ter- tiaiy rocks of North America and Europe, but none of either have been found in the amber. Nearly all the more important subdivisions of the two families .mentioned are included among the Tertiary fossils. See Ortiioptera. Consult: First Report United fitates Entomo- logical Commission (Washington. 1877) : Hyatt and Arms, Insecta (Boston. 1890) ; Seudder, Gvide to the Genera and Classification of the 'North American Orthoptera (Cambridge, 1897) ; Howard. The Insect Book (New York. 1901). See also the bibliography under Outmoptera. GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. Any of two or three of the smaller American sparrows which live in grassv fields, and whose rattling notes