Experimental Crossing of Subspecies in Nemobius (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)1

In 1925, in a paper on Oecanthus (1), I reported the occurrence in Iowa of three ecological races of Nemobius fasciatus (De Geer), namely, a race widely distributed in grass land, a lowland grass race and a woodland race. Each race had a distinct song. No diagnostic characters were noted except that the woodland race was lighter and more reddish in color. After moving to North Carolina, I found the three types of songs duplicated there in races segregated by habitat. The most common race which had long been considered a southern geographical race, N. fasciatus socius Scudder, sang like the lowland grass race of the north. The southern race was defined as having the ovipositor no longer than the hind femora, a character which did not hold for the other two ecological races in North Carolina. Further study revealed differences in the proportions of the male tegmina and in the shape of the tip of the ovipositor, which were correlated with the type of song wherever found. The new characters were no more clearly limited than the old but defined what seemed to be the true subdivisions of the species. These findings were reported in a general paper on the genus (2), in which I proposed that the lowland grass race of the north should be recognized as socius , and described the woodland race as a new subspecies, N. fasciatus tinnulus .