﻿BRITISH ORTHOPTERA IN 1911. 115 



Gryllodesb.—G ryllotalpa gryllotalpa, the mole cricket, appears 

 to be seldom noticed in Britain, though it is possibly not so 

 scarce as this would imply. Like its namesake with the velvet 

 fur, it is an underground animal, and may therefore very easily 

 escape notice. I know of but one locality where ib is per- 

 manently established. At a spot in the neighbourhood of 

 Eamnor, in the New Forest, one of the keepers seems a,t any 

 time to be able to obtain specimens by digging for them in the 

 claj'Oy soil. It is from this source that Mr. A. J. Scollick 

 obtained a nice specimen in July last, whose extreme length was 

 about 50 millimetres, while the expanse of its wings was about 

 66'5. Perhaps other entomologists may know where this — one 

 of the finest of British insects — has permanent colonies. Mr. 

 J. G. Dalgliesh is accustomed to receive living examples from 

 Guernsey. Figures are given to enable anyone unacquainted 

 with the insect to identify it. On November 12th last I received 

 from Mr. G. T. Lyle a male specimen of the little "wood- 

 cricket" {Nemobius sylvestris), which he found hopping about 

 amidst fallen leaves, on the 5th of the month, in Pignall Wood 

 in the New Forest. It seems quite likely that this insect may, 

 to some extent at least, hybernate as an imago, for Mr. Lyle 

 also found, in the New Forest, on February 12th, 1910, a female 

 imago, which he fowarded to me alive {vide Entom. vol. xliii. 

 p. 98). On August nights in the Forest, when scarcely a living 

 thing betrays its presence by sound, a quiet chirping is occa- 

 sionally heard, which I presume is due to this little cricket. 



Locustodea. — Writing from the New Forest on October 19th, 

 Mr. Lyle told me that, while sugaring that evening at 6A5, he 

 noticed a grasshopper, Meconema thalassinum ( = varium), 

 ovipositing in the chinks of the bark of an oak-tree. The 

 ovipositor was inserted to half its length. A second insect was 

 also noticed in a similar position on a neighbouring tree. I 

 suggested that, since it was not possible to obtain a photograph 

 at night, Mr. Lyle should make an accurate sketch of the 

 insect as it was probing the bark, and, having mounted a speci- 

 men in exactly the same position, photograph it at home. This 

 he had no difdculty in doing, for on visiting Holland's Wood a 

 night or two afterwards, the grasshopper could be found ovi- 

 positing on every fifth or sixth tree. This plenty continued till 

 October 27th, but when Mr. Lyle paid another visit on November 

 14th he could not detect a single individual. Writing on July 

 15th, Mr. H. Campion reported to me a case of cannibalism in 

 a Locustid grasshopper. Two specimens of Metrioptera hradty- 

 ptera were taken by Mr. South at Oxshott, on July 1st. One 

 cast its skin in a glass-bottomed box and later made a meal of 

 the skin. For some days the two specimens of M. hrachyptera 

 were kept in a fish-globe with a Gomphocerus maculatus, also 

 from Oxshott. One night the G. maculatus looked a little 



