A FAUNISTIC ISLAND — ORTHOPTERA AT OBERWEIDEN. 325 



Dianthoecia luteago vars. lowei andficklim, Tutt, Ent. Bee, x., p. 150 (1898). 

 — These are apparently well-defined local races, and therefore important. 



Ephyra annalata abs. ohaoleta and biol)solcta, Riding, Eiit. Jlec, x., p. 239 

 (1898). — These are at least as worthy of recognition as some of the forms of the 

 allied species which are duly registered. 



{To be concluded.) 



A Faunistic Island — Orthoptera at Oberweiden. 



By M.VLCOLM BURR, F.Z.S., F.L.S., F.E.S. 



In Moravia, not far from Marchegg, near the Hungarian frontier, 

 is one of those remarkable faunistic oases, with which all practical 

 entomologists are familiar. At Oberweiden, the "island" in question, 

 the collector finds himself suddenly transported, as it were, from 

 Central Europe to the region of the Volga ; in a small patch of ground 

 there is an abrujot change of fauna, most noticeable in the stationary- 

 forms of life, and in this small patch there is found what appears to 

 be the original fauna of the neighbourhood, unmodified by centuries of 

 cultivation. 



It is a desolate, sandy spot, between eighty and a hundred kilo- 

 metres from Vienna. To reach it, the traveller alights at a small 

 wayside station, Oberweiden. He is at once struck by the poverty of 

 the surrounding country, and the barrenness of the soil. About twenty 

 minutes' walk from the station, over flat, sandy, treeless country, 

 brings us to a row of small sandy hillocks ; this is the oasis. All 

 around is flat, dry and barren, a little coarse grass in the sand forming 

 the only vegetation. Just beyond the hillocks, there are a few stunted 

 shrubs, and the ground becomes quite flat ; this is the second part of 

 the " island." Barren, dry, and desolate, it is a melancholy spot, a 

 fit home for the last survivors of a dying race. Years ago, at the end 

 of the hillocks, was a dead tree, used as a perch by a few bird-catchers, 

 who were the only frequenters of this desert ; by the tree was a little 

 hut, where they took refuge from the weather, and kept their decoy 

 owl; now the tree is gone, and the " buhuhiitte " has disappeared. 

 In this hut many famous entomologists had taken their frugal 

 luncheon, and Brunner and Krauss had carved up a list of the Orthop- 

 tera which they had taken there. Civilisation has found a use even 

 for this desert, for we saw peasants watering a track for racehorses, and 

 the bird-catchers have given place to jockeys and trainers. 



More than twenty years ago, Brunner had been surprised to receive a 

 specimen of (Tnniplioccrns antennatKs, Fieb., labelled " Marchegg." This 

 little grasshopper had hitherto only been known from Sarepta, on the 

 Volga, and he resolved to discover the exact spot where it had been 

 taken. After many attempts, he discovered it in numbers near the 

 '• buhuhiitte," and from that time orthopterists, dipterists, and many 

 others frequented the new happy hunting-ground. At the end of 

 September, 1900, he accompanied me to show me G, antennatus in its 

 own home. 



In the flat ground, before reaching the hillocks, there is nothing. 

 A few straggling specimens of Stenohothrus bicolor, Charp., were all we 

 could find. Once among the hillocks, Gnuiphocerus )))acidati(s, Thunb., 

 occurred in swarms ; both these, however, are common everywhere ; 

 the first form characteristic of the spot was Oedalcus. niyrofasciatus, de 

 Geer, which betrayed itself by flying across the hollows between the 



