Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
Although the live weights of the successive stages of some of the old world Acrididae are known (Bodenheimer, 1929; Key, 1936; Duarte, 1938; Husain, et al., 1946; Davey, 1954; Richards and Waloff, 1954), this information has been obtained only for Melanoplus bilituratus (Wlk.) among the grasshopper species of Western Canada (Smith, 1958). In addition to the establishment of growth curves, weight data are useful for computing the biomass of acridid fauna in any situation. As data accumulate to permit the development of a generalized relationship of food consumed to body weight, (e.g. Davey, 1954; Misra, 1956; Gangwere, 1958; Smith, 1958; Putnam, unpublished data), live weight could become a useful quantity for estimating the damage potential of any acridid population.