COLLECTING ORTHOPTERA IN THE CAUCASUS. 37 



Collecting Orthoptera in the Caucasus and Transcaucasus. 



(Wit It tiro platen). 



By MALCOLM BURK, D.Sc, F.E.S. 



{Concluded from page 15). 



The usual daily routine consisted in collecting in the morning, 

 a siesta, demanded by the climate, or a quiet hour or two in the 

 afternoon, a stroll, of course with net and killing-bottle, or a set or 

 two of tennis in the evening. After supper, an arc-lamp was switched 

 onat the bottom of the garden, which attracted marvellous hosts of insects 

 of all orders, from the oasis and from the steppe. On still warm evenings 

 in summer, at this late season, results were relatively meagre, yet hosts 

 of minute water-beetles, and some big ones, ('orixidae, Tn'cliu/itera, and 

 small Dijitera came in large numbers. There were a few Chnjsopa. 

 In Orthoptera, E/iaciouiia thalassina was much in evidence, sometimes 

 OecanthHn pellucens, Scop., sailed leisurely past, and a few Neiiwbiii.'i 

 saiufsun'r'-, Burr, a small, fully-winged eastern representative of 

 .V. si/lve.stri.s, our little wood cricket of the New Forest. It is an 

 interesting form of collecting, and it gives the opportunity of observing 

 the flight of many species that arp. not usually seen on the wing, as the 

 two mentioned above. Earlier in the year Forficula aiiricidaria, L., 

 and (jri/llotalpa fly freely to light, and by this means m}' host has 

 taken one or two of the known specimens of torjicnla ])innerantuvi, 

 Sem., the male of which still remains undiscovered. 



In September the uncultivated part of the steppe consists of a 

 grey, finely arenaceous clay, burnt and cracked by the sun. As the 

 waters recede, plants creep in to reclaim the soil; the first to come is 

 Artemisia maritima, the universal grass of the steppe. It is followed 

 by the delicate stems of Al/uu/hi caiiielorniii, one of the few plants that 

 are green at this period ; sprawling in patches are the long stalks of 

 Capparis spinona, with round, dark green leaves and strong spines, and 

 Prosopis stephaaiana with its pod-like fruits, burst open exposing their 

 crimson interior. There are few insects in Capparis whose strong 

 spines defy the sweep-net, nor on Prosopis, but on Alliagld there are 

 various [i/ii/nchcta, and sometimes Iris oratoria, L., Tylopsis tlii/mifolia, 

 and an immature Empiisa fall into the net. The Artemisia is burnt 

 grey as the soil itself, and almost every sprig is crowned with what 

 looks at first like a small white bulbous fiower, but on inspection 

 proves to be thousands of a small, pale snail, Heli.v derhende, bleached 

 by the sun. 



A welcome patch of green is afforded by the thick clumps of three 

 or four species of Salsola, a dense, juicy shrub, rich in alkali. The two 

 commonest species are -S'. soda and .S'. kalia. Here we find OrtJioptera 

 sucking the luscious shoots. Caloptenus italicus, L., occurs in 

 profusion. More typical of the east is Dericorys roseipennis, Redt., 

 first discovered in Turkestan. A near relative of the north African 

 1). (jibhosa, it is a sluggish insect, falling, when disturbed, to the 

 ground, and hiding among the roots of the plant, its yellowish-brown 

 variegated hues assimilating well with the light and shade beneath 

 the dense shrub. It does not hop activel}^ and rarely employs its rosy- 

 tinted wings. 



It is noteworthy what a number of the local grasshoppers have 

 rosy or red wings. The ubiquitous Caloptenus italicus, of course, and 



