LOG 



HARDWICKE'S SC TEN CE- GO S SI P. 



[Sept. ], 1S&6. 



THE LARGE GREEN GRASSHOPPER. 



Acrida viridissima. 



A MONG the terrestrial creatures now peopling 

 •£*- the earth in such vast myriads, none come 

 across our path so often as the grasshoppers. Every 

 tuft of grass seems alive with their curious calls ; at 

 every step one seems to hop away from us. And 

 they well repay a short examination, were it only for 

 their varied and lovely colours : some, having their 

 habitation solely in the grass, are of its own green 

 hue, others enlivening the bare chalky slopes are 

 grey, while some again are of a delicate carmine, some 



Fig. 198, Acrida viridissima. 



green and crimson — in fact, as we catch one after 

 another, there seems no end to their tints. The 

 large grasshopper, of which I have made a few 

 notes, is, however, much more seldom seen ; when 

 it is caught it is generally killed and pinned out, as 

 something a little out of the common, but very 

 rarely is it kept alive, and consequently little or 

 nothing is known of its habits. My friend Mr. 

 Tate just mentions it in the volume for 1866, and 

 Mrs. Watney also states one fact concerning its 

 food. Were it better known, I suppose we should 

 have a recognized English name for it ; as it is, it 

 goes by the name of Green Locust, or the one at 

 the head of this article. But, scientifically, it is 

 neither a locust nor a grasshopper, both of which 

 are included in the family Loemtida, but this belongs 

 to the Gryllidtf, which is distinguished from the 

 former— by the presence in the females of a for- 

 midable looking ovipositor, extending from the end 

 of the body. Mr. Tate calls it the "Horsehead" 

 Grasshopper ; but I do not see why the title should 

 be applied solely to this species, as all of the tribe 

 have heads much alike ; perhaps the resemblance to 

 a horse's head is more striking in viridissima from 

 its great size. 



I caught a female two or three weeks ago as it 

 sat on the head of a large flower, and brought it 

 home captive. It has been living in a glass globe 

 ever since, and at the present moment is doing a 

 constitutional over my writing table ; not, I fear, 

 appreciating the honour I am doing it by giving its 

 history in the pages of Science-Gossip ; at any rate, 

 it does not look as if it did, being busily engaged in 

 discussing the contents of a cabbage stalk I pur- 

 posely laid in its way. I did not know at first what 

 food to supply it with, animal or vegetable, until 

 I thought of Mrs. Watney's note above referred to. 

 I put in some grass well moistened, a piece of cooked 

 beef, and, as I knew the latter would not be easily 

 obtained in the creature's own haunts, a couple of 

 house flies as well. It treated both flies and grass 

 with great unconcern; but when one of the ct?i- 

 tenncs came in contact with the meat, it went up to 

 it at once and devoured it, holding it between its 

 two front legs. Shortly after I found that one of 

 the flies was gone, and, as it could not have escaped, 

 I concluded the creature had eaten it, so I sat down 

 to watch the fate of the other. Viridissima had 

 retired to the gauze over its dwelling, hanging with 

 its back downwards, and appeared busily engaged 

 in "cleaning its teeth;" but presently the fly came 

 between its legs and the roof, there was a sharp, 

 sudden movement of the head, and the prey was 

 entangled in the complicated jaws of the grass- 

 hopper, by the agency of which it was speedily 

 tucked in and devoured. Having once heard of an 

 individual of this species devouring its own leg, 

 which had been accidentally knocked off, I put in 

 a few small grasshoppers, to see whether they formed 

 part of its diet. It was not long before one of them 

 ventured within range, and escaped with the loss of 

 a leg. A few minutes afterwards another was 

 caught bodily, and eaten with great relish. I now 

 fed it entirely with living prey; and though I put 

 in both raw and cooked meat, it never again touched 

 either, I also put in a worm, thinking that pro- 

 bably, like a mole cricket I once kept, it would eat 

 it, but it did not. I should think very probably it 

 would do so, though, if hungry. It is not, however, 

 wholly carnivorous, for, as before mentioned, it is 

 fond of the succulent stalks of cabbage, and pos- 

 sibly of other similar substances. 



It never appears to hunt its prey, never ran after 

 the flies or sprang on them; it waited quietly until 

 they came within reach, when it turned its head 

 sharply round and seized them, the legs assisting. 

 It very likely obtains its usual food by lying in 

 wait, as it certainly could not capture either flies or 

 grasshoppers in fair open chase. Its mode of pro- 

 gression appears to be a series of short leaps, on an 

 average twelve to fifteen inches — not nearly so long 

 as those of its smaller relatives, though when jump- 

 ing from a table or any elevated spot to a lower 

 eminence I have seen it go above a yard. It walks 



