SYNOPSIS OF THE ORTHOPTERA OF WESTERN EUROPE. 237 



Synopsis of the Orthoptera of Western Europe. 



By MALCOLM BURR, B.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



(Continue! from. p. 171.) 



Family VI: Ephippigerid.f. (=Subfam. V: Pycnogastrinae, Kirby). 



This great family contains a large number of curious, beavy, 

 flightless grasshoppers, occurring through the Mediterranean countries, 

 but dominant in the western part of that province. A number of 

 species occurs in Northern Africa, but the majority are peculiar to the 

 Iberian Peninsula; a few species are recorded from the Mediterranean 

 islands, Italy, and the Balkan Peninsula, and one species is found in 

 Central Europe as far north as Belgium. 



The wings are absent, and the elytra are reduced to mere flaps, the 

 venation being highly modified for purposes of stridulation. It is 

 remarkable that the females have these organs as well-developed as the 

 males, and are equally capable of producing sounds. This is a departure 

 from the general rule, and is, perhaps, connected with the fact that these 

 insects stridulate when angry or alarmed. Grasshoppers generally only 

 stridulate when undisturbed, but the Ephippigeridae will chirp angrily 

 when held in the finders, and endeavour to bite the offending captor. 



They are sluggish and ponderous insects, and may be found slowly 

 crawling about on bushes and shrubs ; they assimilate well with their 

 surroundings, and are difficult to see, but with care may be stalked 

 down as they betray their presence by their stridulation. The eye 

 becomes accustomed to distinguish the outline of the immovable 

 creature, but a keen observer will often detect them by the short quick 

 movement of the elytra. 



Owing to their sluggish habits and incapacity of flight, the dis- 

 tribution of the species is generally restricted, and consequently the 

 multiplication of forms is great, while their discrimination is subtle. 

 The Spanish and Portuguese species are dealt with by Bolivar in his 

 " Catalogo Sinoptico de los Ortopteros de la Fauna Liberica" ; for further 

 information concerning this interesting family, the student is referred 

 to Brunner's " Prodromus," various works by Finot, and above all to 

 the numerous short articles by Bolivar, whose knowledge of this 

 family is unrivalled. 



The; Ephippigeridae are probably omnivorous; they are certainly 

 carnivorous ; if several specimens are kept together alive i i a box, they 

 will always mutilate each other, and fight savagely, tearing each other 

 with their powerful jaws; it is not difficult to keep them alive, and 

 it is interesting to watch their habits; their large roundhead, with 

 prominent eyes, gives them a grotesque semi-human appearance, though 

 they are not such entertaining pets as the Mantids. 



The genus as understood by Brunner was so large as to be unwieldy, 

 and it has been split by Bolivar into a number of genera and subgenera; 

 the latter should be given generic rank. 



[The writer claims special indulgence for the faults of this part of 

 the paper. Though be has taken a, number of the species in different 

 parts of Spain, and in the Balkans, lie is far from being familial' with 

 the characters and distinctions of the whole group, and tins part of the 

 papers dealing with tin; Ephippigeridae is avowedly more of a pure 

 compilation than any other part of this work.] 



