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THE ENTOMOLOGIST S KECORD. 



it then removed its attention from the sugar to ivy blossom. This 

 idea would be tenable if the ivy at Mucking burst out into blossom on 

 that date. I do not know whether the plant has such a habit any- 

 where, but, in these parts, different plants in different situations, 

 blossom at different periods, covering, perhaps, four months of the 

 autumn. How thankful one ought to be for hints ! However, I am 

 getting tired of going my rounds, of getting blinded by the glare 

 of the lamp, and lastly of writing. I note a worn-out Trvphama 

 pronuba, a late visitor, kicking the sheet to give notice to the daddy- 

 long-legs to clear out, so I turn out the gas and get in-doors as quickly 

 as I can, for it is past mid-night. 



Orthoptera in East Kent in 1907. 



By MALCOLM BURE, B.A., F.E.S., F.Z.S. 



As four years had passed since I had had a day's collecting in 

 England, I noted with considerable satisfaction the improvement in 

 the weather at the end of August, but not until September 8th was I 

 able to go into the field under a brilliant sun and perfect sky ; a 

 picnic at the Warren afforded once more the opportunity of taking 

 Forficula lesnei, Finot. After hard sweeping among flowers and 

 shrubs, only a few captures were made, but as evening drew on, they 

 appeared to be more active, and a dozen at a time were frequently 

 found in the net while sweeping among nettles. F. lesnei appears to 

 outnumber the common species at this particular locality, but I have 

 not yet found it elsewhere in this neighbourhood. I picked up a 

 solitary male walking across a footpath at the Warren on Septem- 

 ber 28th. 



Of other interesting Orthoptera, (fomphocerus rufits, Linn., was not 

 plentiful. Persistent search at the very spot where it swarmed in 

 1890 failed to reveal more than a few isolated specimens. Stenobothrus 

 lineatus, Panz., was fairly common, as also Platycleis grisea, Fabr.,and 

 Leptophyes punctatissima, i!osc, the latter, of course, on shrubs. 

 Locusta viridissima, Linn., was numerous, and its harsh stridulation 

 resounded on all sides during the afternoon. Olynthoscelis griseo-aptera, 

 De Geer, under which name it is hard to recognise our old friend 

 Thamnotrizon cinereus, Linn., was also abundant, and very busy chirping. 

 This insect was formerly regarded as a prize owing to its retiring- 

 disposition and great activity, which renders it extremely difficult to 

 capture among the dense and thorny thickets which it haunts. But 

 those who are familiar with its stridulation cannot fail to recognise its 

 presence in almost every roadside hedge, at least in the southern 

 counties ; on a still night in the late summer and autumn, it may be 

 heard almost continually, when driving or riding, by those who have 

 an ear trained to the stridulation of Orthoptera. There is not a road 

 in this neighbourhood along which I have driven at dusk without 

 hearing its characteristic chirp, and I have frequently checked this by 

 catching sight of the insect itself. The Eev. J. G. Wood regarded 

 the capture of a fine male of this species as marking a red-letter day 

 in the entomologist's calender, but, as the male betrays its presence by 

 its song, the female is the rarer in collections. These may often, 

 however, be found crawling at the edges of the thickets haunted by 



