Abstract
Indices of preference for forage plants most highly favored by three species of caged adult grasshoppers, Melanoplus san- guinipes (F.), M. foedus Scudder and Aulocara elliotti (Thomas) (Or- thoptera: Acrididae), were not constant but tended to be inversely proportional to relative availability. However, actual consumption rates for the same food plants increased with increasing availability. The con- sumption of nonpreferred plants occurred in an apparently random man- ner. Grasshoppers assimilated only a small percentage of what they consumed and destroyed, by chewing but not ingesting, nearly two-thirds as much vegetation as was consumed. The usefulness of the preference index as a meaningful mechanism for describing the process of diet
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