SYNOPSIS OF THE ORTHOPTERA OF WESTERN EUROPE. 315 



have led me to draw up a brief outline of the Orthoptera inhabiting the 

 western portion of the European continent. This, in itself, is not a 

 difficult task ; the point upon which I have felt the greatest hesitation 

 is the choice of area. It is a commonplace that "Europe" is a 

 political, and not a zoogeographical term, and a list of any animals 

 confined to Europe in the ordinary acceptance of the word would 

 arbitrarily exclude a large number of closely-allied, often congeneric, 

 forms that characterise the neighbouring portions of the African and 

 Asiatic continents ; again. Western Palisarctic would embrace an area 

 wider than the intended scope of this synopsis. I have therefore 

 resolved to confine myself to the Orthoptera found in those countries 

 which are nearest to Great Britain, and so, most frequently visited by 

 British entomologists. It is, in fact, intended as an aid to tourists, 

 in order to encourage them to pay some attention to an order of insects 

 that has met with such unjustifiable neglect at the hands of collectors, 

 and so, in the following pages, the reader will find rough means for 

 determining any Orthoptera captured west of Vienna ; the Scandi- 

 navian fauna is poor, as also that of northern Germany, but France, 

 Switzerland, western Austria, with Bohemia and the Tirol, afford a 

 rich collecting-ground. Northern Italy, a region that is frequently 

 visited, will well repay collecting, but the greatest wealth of Orthopterous 

 life is in the Iberian Peninsula. Spain and Portugal are little visited 

 by tourists, it is true, but if we are to include the Pyrenees, and south 

 coast of France, the neighbouring districts and countries cannot be 

 omitted. All the genera and species, therefore, which appear to be 

 confined to the peninsula are included, which increases the size of the 

 synopsis, and involves the inclusion of a few Algerian and Moroccan 

 insects that have been recorded from the southern shores of Spain. 

 To pass beyond Vienna would mean the inclusion of Eastern Europe, 

 with Russia, and the Balkans. Orthoptera are not yet sufficiently 

 popular to warrant a work on other than purely systematic and 

 complete lines, dealing with the Orthopterous fauna of all Europe, or 

 of the western part of the Paliearctic Region, and the student who is 

 sufficiently interested to collect forms occurring east of Vienna will be 

 able to employ the various works that have been published on the 

 subject in various tongues. 



This synopsis is mtended purely as an outline, and an aid to the 

 student, to enable him to become familiar with more important 

 volumes, of which there are three which call for special mention. The 

 standard work on the European Orthoptera is, of course, Brunner von 

 Wattenwyl's famous and oft-quoted Pwdroinufi der europaUcheii 

 OrtJwpteren, published at Leipzig in 1882. This is a scholarly work, 

 giving detailed synoptical tables, and descriptions in entomological 

 Latin, while the rest of the book is written in German. This will 

 prevent its ever becoming a popular work, but it is absolutely 

 indispensable to the serious student. A very useful account of the 

 Orthoptera of France is Captain Finot's Insectes Orthopteres, published 

 by Deyrolle, in the Faune de la Francs series ; it enables the collector 

 to determine about half the species that are found west of Vienna. 

 The distinguished Spanish orthopterist, Senor Don Ignacio Bolivar, 

 has published recently a Catalofjo ainoptico de las Ortopterun de la 

 Peninmla Iberica, giving a brief outline, with very useful synoptical 

 tables, of the rich Orthoptera- Fauna of Spain and Portugal ; so many 



