228 MUITISH ORTHOPTERA. 



VARIATION.- -As far as my own observation goes the 

 species is not subject to much variation except in size, 

 but in this respect the range is certainly very great. 

 I once took a very bright female in the New Forest 

 with rosy dorsal surface of the thorax. 



DATE. --On 28 July 1919 I took a mature example, 

 and in early years imagines may perhaps be expected 

 by the end of July, but probably they seldom reach 

 that stage till August, which month and the next are 

 the best in which to seek the species. 



HABITS, ETC.- -Perhaps the fact that M. grossus loves 

 the very wet, and therefore least accessible, parts of 

 bogs and marshes may have been the cause of its 

 having almost escaped notice in the British Isles for 

 so long a time. At Irstead it was taken amongst bog- 

 myrtle and rank grass, but these conditions do not 

 seem to be so much a necessity as a very wet state of 

 the soil. It readily takes to the wing when disturbed 

 aaid then makes short but rapid flights of about ten or 

 a dozen yards, but it usually will not move unless the 

 sun is shining. One that flew near me had its long 



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legs stretched out behind it, like those of a heron on 

 the wing. When stalked it sometimes rises once or 

 twice, but if thoroughly disturbed hides amongst the 

 rank bog vegetation, with which its colours harmonise 

 so well that it is seldom again found ; and for this 

 reason it would seldom be discovered unless it took to 

 the wing. When flying it is so conspicuous an insect 



that it is certain to be noticed. Though so bulky, on 



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one occasion in the New Forest I came across a male 

 being carried off by the Hobber-fly, Asilus crabroni- 

 formis Linn. The prey was as large as the captor, 

 and probably of a greater weight. 



On 4 September 1910 a male and a female captured 

 in the New Forest were kept alive, and taken to 

 Kingstoii-on- Thames 011 the 10th. There they were 

 placed in a large fish-globe containing Sphagnum and 

 a tuft of grass, the top of the globe being covered with 

 muslin. One was noticed eating the grass, holding 



