326 THE entomologist's record. 



hillocks. It is a strong and active insect, and many of its congeners 

 appear to swarm, like its near ally, Pachyti/hts tJanicns, L., but yet 

 it does not occur on the plain around, and, to find it elsewhere, the 

 collector must travel many miles south, where he will find it on the 

 banks of the Mediterranean. These northern specimens, I noticed, were 

 considerably smaller than the southern ones. In the same hollows, 

 we took Celcs variabilu, Pall., which occurred at a similar, but less 

 characteristic, oasis at Felixdorf, still nearer Vienna, long since 

 destroyed and even built over ; it is an exceedingly variable and very 

 locally distributed species ; the bluish form taken here by Brunner, 

 has been captured, according to him, at only one other locality, 

 namely, Sarepta ; the white form I have taken near Budapest, and 

 it is not uncommon in Transsylvania and the Balkans ; a few 

 isolated spots in Hungary, at Felixdorf and Oberweiden, are the 

 most northern known points of its distribution. 



Sweeping in the thin rank grass, we took Platycleis montana, 

 Kollar, which occurred also at Felixdorf. It is a widely distributed 

 but very local form, having been taken also near Berlin, Glogau, 

 Frankfurt, near Pest, and on the Volga. We were too late in 

 the season to find all the characteristic species, but Brunner had 

 previously taken Platycleis affinis, Fieb., a meridional form closely 

 allied to the abundant P. grisea, Fabr. This is the only spot where 

 it has been discovered north of the Alps ; on the Mediterranean 

 littoral it is common. Another grasshopper, occurring very rarely 

 north of the Alps, but not uncommon here, is Sphinyonotus 

 caendans, L.,as also Stethophyma Jlavicosta, Fisch., & form with an 

 erratic distribution. Stenobothrns 7iiyromaculatus, Herr.-Sch. (a 

 southern form), and S. hiyuttnlu^, Charp., occurred too. But the two 

 most striking species taken at Oberweiden are Stanronotus brevicollis, 

 Eversm., and Gomphocerus antennatnn, Fieb. The former is less rare, 

 it has been taken at Bazias on the Danube, in Servia, Epirus, and at 

 Sarepta ; its occurrence in Moravia is, therefore, quite remarkable. 

 The latter is only known from three localities, namely, Oberweiden, a 

 similar spot near Budapest, and at Sarepta. It is a small and delicate 

 insect, very like G. macidatus, Thunb., but its long and graceful 

 antennas, very strongly clubbed at the apex, are most noticeable. I 

 took but a single specimen, but earlier in the season it is abundant 

 among the stunted trees beyond the hillocks. 



One more form with an erratic distribution occurring here is 

 Gampsocleis ylabra, Herbst. It is found in isolated localities in 

 different parts of northern Europe. In Thiiringen, near Berlin, 

 Frankfurt in Silesia, Bohemia, a few localities in Hungary, in Servia, 

 abundant in the steppes of the Volga and of the Urals, and quite 

 recently it has been discovered in Belgium. 



In a short essay upon this interesting collecting ground (" Ueber 

 die autochthone Orthopteren-Fauna Oesterreichs," Verh. k. k. Zool.- 

 hot. Ges. Wien., 1881, p. 215), Brunner suggests that these remark- 

 able forms represent the original fauna of Europe, long since driven 

 by cultivation and civilisation to a few scattered desolate spots, where 

 they still maintain their existence, and hold their own against 

 sturdier forms, which have adapted themselves to less favourable 

 conditions. Altogether no less than eighty species have been taken 

 at Oberweiden, of which twelve are quite remarkable. 



