164 BRITISH ORTHOPTERA. 



1897 on Esher Common, Surrey. August and Sep- 

 tember are the best months for imagines. 



HABITS, ETC.- -In my own experience M. bracliyptem 

 inhabits heathy ground, but affects by preference moist 

 spots, or even the surface of bogs. It should there- 

 fore be looked for amongst the cross-leaved heath 



o 



(l\i'ii'(i tetralix) rather than those species which prefer 

 drier ground. In such spots the vegetation is often 

 rank and luxuriant. Consequently, although this 

 grasshopper is not particularly active, its capture 

 requires patience. After a hop or tw^o it often takes 

 refuge and hides at the base of the herbage. At 

 times its mode of progression partakes more of the 

 nature of a walk or a run than of a hop. The species 

 is easily noticed " in the field," as, in the living insect, 

 the green parts of its colour-pattern show up rather 

 clearly. 



If several are kept together 'in. captivity, they must 

 be well supplied with food, or they will probably turn 

 cannibal. About 6 October 1905 one of two caught 

 near Oxsbott, Surrey, and kept in a glass-bottomed 

 box, partly devoured the other. Whether the victim 

 became moribund, or whether it was forcibly overcome 

 by its companion, I cannot say; but, as was clear 

 from the movements of its jaws, it was not lifeless 

 while the other was feeding upon it. Grass had been 

 supplied to them, but it soon became dry, and hunger 

 probably induced the cannibalism. H. Campion relates 

 a similar experience. Of two also obtained at Oxshott 

 (1 July 1911), one cast its skin in a glass-bottomed 

 box, and later made a meal of the skin. For some 

 days they were kept in a fish-globe with a Gomphocerus 

 maculatus, also from Oxshott. The G. maculatus looked 

 a little sluggish one night, and the next morning was 

 dead, and one of the Locustids was feeding upon it. 

 As an instance of the vitality displayed by a female 

 of this species the following may be mentioned. Two, 

 a male and a female, taken on Esher Common, after 

 being in a cyanide-bottle for a short time, were placed 



