CONOCEPHALUS DOESALIS. 187 



G. dorsal is selects. In consequence of possessing such 

 tiny wings it cannot fly, but it hops very actively from 

 blade to blade of the tussocks of long grass amongst 

 which it lives, and, as it clings very tightly to them, it 

 is not easy to secure the insect by sweeping, nor would 

 it be wise to try, the build of the creature being so 

 frail. Perhaps the hands are the best implements with 

 which to effect its capture, as they are certainly the 

 readiest. If thoroughly disturbed it goes down towards 

 the roots of the grass, and there cannot be found. It 

 seems to like tussocks of a tall, soft, pale green grass, 

 and apparently prefers wet spots, though its habitat 

 may not be entirely restricted to them. 



On one occasion a nymph was observed to be 

 extremely well protected on a blade of grass, where it 

 rested with its legs stretched out in a line with its 

 body in some such manner as many of the long-legged 

 spiders do. Such a position it took up very readily. 

 Its habitat, usually not very accessible, also serves it as 

 a means of protection. On one occasion Edelsten found 

 them " very common on reeds at night in the Norfolk 

 Broads "on 28 and 29 July 1906. The colour of the 

 liquid emitted from the mouth when the insect is held 

 captive is in this case dark purple-brown. What 

 appeared to be a case of cannibalism has come under 

 my notice. 



Porritt, who found several near Churston in South 

 Devon in the years 1900 and 1902, gave Bracken in 

 1912 the precise spot where he might be expected to 



find them. A search on 26 Ausrust 1914, made bv the 



. " 



latter, was rewarded by the capture of three specimens, 

 after five hours of patient sweeping. These three 

 (two males and a female) were taken in exactly the 

 same spot as that in which Porritt took them some ten 

 years before. This is a striking illustration of the way 

 in which certain insects continue to breed for years in 

 a limited area. This grasshopper presents a graceful 

 and pretty appearance when, in its favourite haunts, it 

 suns itself on rushes or leaves of iris, its long antennae 



