142 



Singularly formed Orthopterow Insects. 



composed of two long slender joints without a claw. Posterior 

 legs very short, and received in cavities on each side of the 

 body. The cavities which receive the second pair of legs occupy 

 the spaces between the mesothorax and metathorax ; while the 

 third pair are contained in the interval between the metatho- 

 rax and the first joint of the abdomen. The legs are much 

 compressed. Femora broad and armed at the apex, with a 

 blunt spine, serving as a guide to the tibia, when in the act 

 of being drawn beneath them. Tibia broad, compressed, 

 and strongly armed with a short spine at the tip. Tarsi 

 biarticulated, ciliated beneath, and furnished with a very small 

 claw. 



C. Campbe'llii G. R. Gray.* {fig. 15.) 



Smooth ; head, forelegs, and last joint of the abdomen dark 



brown ; thorax reddish brown ; abdo- 



men (except the last joint), and the 

 two posterior pairs of legs, yellowish 

 brown, with a tinge of darker colour. 



Brought from Melville Island, on the 

 north coast of New Holland, by Major 

 Campbell; who informed me that he 

 was unable to keep a single plant in his 

 green -house on account of the ravages 

 of this insect. It bores in their stems ; 

 and the withering of the plants alone i5 

 betrays the secret work of the spoiler. 

 Its form is admirably adapted for its 

 mode of life. The power which it has 

 of drawing its legs at pleasure into the 

 cavities at the sides of the body en- 

 ables it to assume a shape almost per- 

 fectly cylindrical ; while the short blunt 

 spine at the end of the tibia, being pro- 

 truded, keeps the insect fast when it 

 is engaged in boring. The name given 

 by the colonists to this insect was the wireworm. 



I may here mention that a species of the genus Gryllotalpa 

 is also found in New Holland, but of a small size. Specimens 

 have also been brought from Brazil, India, China, and Egypt. 



The group to which I am now desirous of directing atten- 

 tion has been sadly neglected by entomologists, although it 

 contains, as is here exemplified, some very singularly formed 

 species, which are well worthy of notice. Those to which I 

 am about to refer are included under my subgeneric name of 



* Figured, but not described, in Griffith's Translation of Cuvier, pi. 131. 



