132 BKITISH ORTHOPTERA. 



large specimen. Again on 12 November 1911 he 

 sent me a male which he found hopping about amidst 

 fallen oak leaves on the 5th of the month at Pignell 

 AYood. Nymphs may be obtained nearly the whole year 

 through. On 1 March 1914, for example, a short 

 search was made in a known locality in the Forest, 

 when one nymph at least was seen, but no imago. 

 On the lOth of April in the same year I saw in a spot 

 near Lady Cross, amongst dead leaves, a number of 

 nymphs and with them one male, much larger than 

 the rest, but not an imago. Both imagines and small 

 nymphs were obtained on 8 September 1912. B. S. 

 Harwood met with this cricket in the Forest in October 

 1912, but the condition is not recorded. It would 

 therefore appear that breeding takes place in the 

 summer, but that the young do not become adult till 

 late spring or early summer of the next year. 



HABITS, ETC.- -In the New Forest this little cricket 

 appears to frequent dry banks, especially where there 

 are plenty of fallen leaves. If the bank is by the side 

 of a stream the crickets seem to keep well above the 

 water. I cannot recall having met with them amongst 

 coniferous trees, the fallen leaves from which would 

 not afford the kind of cover they evidently like. Both 

 sexes run about very rapidly by fits and starts when 

 first disturbed, and often take short leaps of some 9 or 

 10 inches in length, so thev are rather difficult to 



O t/ 



catch. They may be running and hopping about in all 

 directions when first discovered in any spot, but after 

 a time, if still disturbed, they take cover till there is 

 little evidence of their presence. The hand seems to 

 be the best means to employ for their capture, but 

 being delicate little creatures, they are sometimes 

 damaged in the process. Indeed specimens are often 

 taken that have lost a hind leg. What is their 

 natural food it is hard to say. Lyle once sent me a 

 female (one out of four specimens) which he found, 

 about 10 September 1916, amongst the debris of a 

 decayed Boletus. Of course they may simply have been 



