HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



59 



cases is not so plain. The Lackey is one of those 

 insects that are protected by some strange natural 

 law from molestation by birds. The web cannot be 

 needed in its case. Cannot some of the readers o f 

 Science-Gossip give us some ideas on the subject ? 

 Nottlng Hill. C. Lovekin. 



GEYLLUS VIRIDISSIMUS. 



ON the evening of Monday, September 11th, I 

 had a beautifid Gryllus viridissimus brought 

 to me. It was found on some dry grass, just where 

 a hedge had been recently cut down, and was in 

 perfect condition, and very lively. 



I had not any previous knowledge of the insect, 

 but I imagined it must be a kind of locust, so I 

 expected it to be a very voracious creature— a 

 devourer of any green thing. I did not at the time 

 remember that it had been noticed in Science- 

 Gossip ; and, as I had an engagement, I put it into 

 a well-ventilated box with a glass lid, and, having 

 supplied it with a quantity of fresh grass for food, 

 left 'it to its fate for the day. On the Wednesday 

 morning I could not discover that it had eaten any 

 of the grass, and it appeared to have lost both bulk 

 and vitality. However, 1 gave it a slice of apple, 

 upon which it fed eagerly, making quite a little 

 cavity by the action of its mandibles, and growing 

 evidently stouter and more lively in consequence. 

 I soon after took a vralk to the spot where the 

 insect bad been found, and gathered a sprig of 

 every plant which grew near, hoping in this way to 

 ascertain its preferences. I arranged in a vase, 

 dog-rose, hawthorn, dogwood, bramble, nettle, hore- 

 hound, clover, &c., and placed them under a glass 

 shade, which rested on a perforated stand, with a 

 patch of fresh turf at the foot of the vase, and then 

 transferred my G. viridissimus to its new quarters, 

 with which it seemed very well pleased. It walked 

 deliberately over all the dowers and sprays, but did 

 not attempt to eat any, and it finally rested with 

 great apparent contentment upon a rose-leaf. I 

 supplied it with a fresh piece of apple, and then 

 turned to my volumes of Science-Gossip for in- 

 formation. I was rewarded by finding a very 

 interesting article, headed "The Large [.Green 

 Grasshopper {Acrida viridissima)." The writer 

 remarks that, notwithstanding these names, the 

 iisect is really neither a grasshopper nor a^locust, 

 bit that it belongs to the Gryllidae, or Cricket 

 family ; and in a little book, " The World^of In- 

 serts," I find it is called Gryllus viridissimus. My 

 spe>imen has all the distinguishing characters of 

 the iJryllida; : thighs of posterior legs large ; tibise 

 ai'mel with spines ; abdomen terminated by .two 

 slende. fleshy appendages; tarsi of the anterior 

 and inermediate pairs of legs three-jointed ; au- 

 itennae Ing, and a long ovipositor. 



I refer to this because the habits of my viridissi' 

 mus differed somewhat from those described in 

 Science-Gossip, and it might be thought that the 

 insects were not the same. 



Acting upon the information I gained, I supplied 

 my Gryllus with cabbage-stalk, but it disregarded 

 it, and preferred the apple. 1 gave it raw beef, 

 cooked beef, flies, a caterpillar, a grasshopper, and 

 a ladybird. All were touched both by its antennas 

 and its tarsi, but it did not attempt to devour any, 

 though each remained some hours under the glass 

 with it. The living things all came out unhurt, and 

 the meat was not eaten. It still preferred the 

 apple ; but as I feared it did not eat enough for a 

 creature of its size, I put in a large plum whole. 

 This it immediately mounted, and made a cushion 

 of for a considerable time, its bright green colour 

 contrasting very prettily with the purple fruit, but 

 it did not break the skin. For ten days it ate 

 nothing that I gave it but the apple, and it looked 

 well and was very active. I cannot help thinking 

 that it gained part of its nourishment by gathering 

 animalculfe both with its palpi and tarsi. The 

 almost continual movements of the palpi, described 

 by Mr. Ulyett as " cleaning its teeth," seemed to 

 me to be the gathering in of its invisible food; and 

 on examining the palpi with a lens, I found they 

 were covered with delicate cilia, and this, I thought, 

 gave additional probability to the idea. I fully 

 agree with the opinion that the frequent application 

 of the tarsi to its mouth was not for the purpose 

 of making them glutinous, as it often put them there 

 when it was walking about upon my hands, and I 

 never felt them at all sticky ; but I think it carried 

 them to its mouth not only for the purpose of 

 keeping them clean, but also to convey invisible 

 food, for I have watched precisely the same mo- 

 tions when it has been resting upon a leaf, and not 

 n.oving from place to place at all. 



My Gryllus viridissimus was really a most elegant 

 creature ; its colours were just those of a young, 

 vigorous autumn shoot of Rusa caniiia, which, with 

 some other sprays, I placed within the glass. 

 Over these sprays it travelled with evident satis- 

 faction, sometimes leaping from side to side, 

 sometimes clasping the stem, and at other times 

 reposing head downwards upon one of the leaves. 

 In its positions of perfect rest you could not 

 readily distinguish it, its appearance "was so leaf - 

 like. Not only were its movements very fascinat- 

 ing, but it was so tame and friendly that it quite 

 gained upon one's affections : it would leap about 

 the table, and from the table to the carpet, always 

 allowing itself to be recaptured on presenting it 

 a finger ; so that there was no danger of hurting it. 

 I gave it some pieces of apple, cut very thin. It 

 just lifted up the edge with two of its palpi, and 

 then nibbled away; once it ate in my hand. But 

 after ten days a change came over it. It would 



