AN OCCURRENCE OF SCUDDERIA FURCATA FURCATA BRUNNER, ON THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

Iij 'o N Vancouver
unpublished
On O c to be r II , 1937, t W() speci m e ns o f th e F () rk-tai led Bush K :ttrdid , (SCl/rI-rlcri(l .tllrcata Br un n e r) w ere tak en in th e Frase r Riltr delta. Both spcc im crh were ca ug ht on th e tres tl e of th e C a n-adi an .1\ati on a l l{ a il way, w he re th e l in e c rosses th e ll o rth fo rk of th e Frase r l{ il'C r to Lulu I s land. Sin ce th e in sec t was n ot imm edi a t e ly recogni z ed as un comm o n to this reg ion, no furth e r spec im ens w ere so ug ht, hut th e
more » ... followin g day, af ter id enti fi ca ti o n, anoth e r trip t o th e vicinity was m ad e. So m e sea rc h was mad e be f or e a n y we re found, but a low purrin g c hirp led th e part)' t o a birch tree (B etu/a oc-cirl{' rttaLis H oo ke r) w he re close exa m in-ation showed o n e of th e g ree n K a tyd ids. It was a lm ost indistin g uishabl e from th e leaf on whi c h it was r es tin g , a nd this, co upl ed with th e f ac t th a t th e c hirpin g a l wa ys see m ed to be f a rth er ;twa)' th a n it actual ly was, acco unts for th e difli-c ulty in findin g th e illSec t. Afte r dis-cOl'e rln g th e loca ti o n o f th e si nge rs, judic io us sweep in g of th e l owe r hra nches l'iL·ld ed s o m e twe nty spec im e ns of ho th ~. e x es. Th e distribution in this a rea appea rs to he I'e ry limited , sin ce a ll o f th e insects w e re ta ken ' in a narro w be lt eX-te ndin g abo ut t w enty-fi ve ya rds o n ho th sid es of th e ra ilway, a nd w ithi n ha l f a mil e o f th e ri ve r. Wh eth e r or n ot th ey occ ur on th e n o rth ba nk of th e ri ve r was n ot d ete rm'in ed, sin ce th e ra il wa y hr id ge is usua ll y kept ope n, a nd th e north bank at this point is ra th e r diffi c ult to reac h. Th e di strihution of this Katydid is o f conside rabl e inte res t beca use this find in g of it practically on th e sea-sho re, extends the range rig ht across th e continent. Mr. M o r gan H ebard records specim en s fr om th e f o ll owing States : New Hampshire ; 'VI a,;sac llllse tts ; Rh od e I s la nd ; N e w Y o rk ; l'\ ew J e rsey ; P t nn syh'a ni a; Mary-1;lnd; Distri ct o f C o lum bia; Virg ini a; No rth C :Holina; Sou th Ca ro lina; G eo rgia; Fl o r ida;. l\l ic hi ga n; \Visco nsin; Ohi o; [nd i; lll a; Missou r i; K e ntu c ky ; T e nn essee ; :\ la ham a; L o ui sia n a; SO llth D a kllta; N e hras ka ; K a nsas ; A rkan sas ; Oklah o m a ; T exas ; I (!:t ho; Washin g to n ; Orego n ; a nd C a li f() rni a; in all thirty-two states, and in Can ad a fr o m Ontario; Qu ehec , and British C o lum bia. Mr. R on-a ld Buc ke ll of K a ml oops in f o rms m e that Jl e has co ll ect ed it in British Colum-bia from: K as lo, Ve rn on, Sa lm o n Arm , End e rby, Olil' e r, Cres ton, P ent ic ton, O soyoos a nd Lillooe t. This makes its distr ihution prac ti ca ll y as wid es prea d as anyon e o f th e uhiquit-o us Acritiiin({ (' a lth ough its a ltitudina l d istrihuti o n m ay n ot be so g rea t. But w he reas s uc h speci m e ns as C(l7Itnll /a pr'/-lucir/a (Sc udd e r) a nd M e/anop /ll s lIIexi-w n w (Sa uss urc) a re f ree ly fl y in g a nd swa rmin g fo rm s, th is insec t is sec reti l'e, vc ry loca l in distr ihuti o n a nd fr equ entl y n octurn ;t!. This extrao rdin a ril r w id e ra nge m ean s th e r e fo re that th e' species is e ith e r of \' ery g reat a ntiquin' o r in-dul ges in hitherto und et ec ted fli g hts o f ' so m e distan ce , prohah ly a t ni g ht, or is distrihuted by m a n in som e way, pe r-haps in th e egg stage. In this instanc e, sinc e th e ra n g e of occ urrence was r e-stric ted to th e a hOl'C-m e ntion ed a rea hord e rin g th e rai l wa y, it is quite co n-ce il'ah le th a t th e o riginal parent o r pa re nts, arril' ed as adu lts na som e open f " rm of railwa y ca r. Th e yu es tion of its food in th e loca l-ity w he re I found it seem ed wo rth y of inves ti ga tion, so th e stomac h con tents were exami n ed mic roscopically. T h e fin e-ly commi nuted plant m a te ri a l contai n ed an unusua l numhe r of sto m a ta per unit
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