GRYLLID.E. EPHIPPIGERA. 11 



Vertex plus minus acuminatus ; oculi prominuli, exserti : * 



£/^<ra brevissima, in foeminis nulla : . . . • I. Efhipfigeha. 

 elongata : 



Aim incompletae : . . . • . 3. Xiphidiok. 



perfectafj amplffi. 



^/j'^rn (in masculisj ocellatis ; 9 ovipositore vncxaxvo : 4. Mecomema. 



(in utroque sexu) inocellatis; <} ovipositore recto : 5. Phasgonura. 

 obtusus, latus ; oculi vix prominuli, sessiles. 



£/'^<m plus minus abbreviata : 2. Micropteryx. 



abdomine longiora : 6. Decticus. 



Genus I.— EPHIPPIGERA, Latreille. 



Body generally large, stout and heavy, slightly rugose, but rarely smooth ; 

 eyes small, globose, very prominent ; forehead gibbous, with a tubercle 

 between the antennce, the latter inserted in a cavity between the tubercle 

 and the eyes, the basal joint very robust, the second also stout, but smaller, 

 the remaining joints very slender ; thorax rounded above, with the sides 

 somewhat deflexed, scabrous and unequal ; elytra very short, arched and 

 ocellated in the males ; very minute, resembling a roughened scale in the 

 females ; wings none ; abdomen with a deep groove beneath and at the apex 

 in the males, with an ascending scale-like bimucronated process ; in the 

 females with a moderate, broad, incurved ovipositor; legs very slender. 



The only indigenous species of this singular genus may be known 

 by the very small size of the incumbent elytra in the males, and the 

 almost total absence of these organs in the females, in which sex they 

 are merely represented by a rugose scale ; added to which the crown 

 is acuminated and the eyes very prominent ; and the apex of the 

 abdomen in the male is furnished with a bimucronated ascending 

 scale below, and of the female with a broad short incurved ovipositor. 



Sp. 1. virescens. Prasinus, thorace utrinque lined laterali alba. (Long. corp. 

 $ 5 — 6 lin.; ovip. inc. 9 — 10 lin.) 



Ac. virescens. Steph. Catal. p. 300. No. 3309- — Barbitistes autumiialis. 

 Charp. ? — Lo. autumnalis. Hagenbach, Symb. Faun. Ins. Helv. 25. Jig. 14 ? 



Green, nearly glabrous ; thorax with a narrow white line on each side, 

 extending from the eyes to the hinder margin ; elytra in the male rugose, 

 depressed in the middle, and with a smallish ocellus towards the apex ; in 

 the female resembling two small semicircular scales of a bright green, and 

 slightly shagreened. 



In dried species the rich green fades to a dirty-brown, excepting the elytra 

 and ovipositor of the female, which retain most of their brilliant tint ; the 

 tibiae become reddish, &c. 



b2 



