42 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Very likely these females have paired. It is difficult to prove. 

 The male has not much staying power." 



Captain Purefoy also tells me that the atalanta under his 

 notice, which were flying about in his garden, declined to use 

 the shelters provided for the hibernating butterflies, but remained 

 throughout the winter quite in the open. After feeding till the 

 end of October, they settled down for hibernation under the 

 water shoots, or under the stouter limbs of trees. When cling- 

 ing close to the bark of an old plum tree they were extremely 

 difficult to see. Bright days always brought some out, so their 

 numbers became gradually thined. Two very perfect specimens 

 appeared on a warm day at the end of February, and flew 

 strongly all the morning : in the end we were unable to trace 

 them. The warm days in April found three survivors. 



BRITISH ORTHOPTERA IN 1912. 

 By W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S. 



Though no facts of first-rate importance have come to hand 

 in connection with our Orthoptera during the past year, yet a 

 few observations with regard to the habits of these insects have 

 been made, and some little fresh knowledge has been gained as 

 to their distribution in the British Isles. These are recorded in 

 the present short paper. 



Forficulodea. — On August 20th myself and a friend, H. G. 

 Eldon, sought for the Great Shore Earwig {Lahidura riparia) on 

 the coast near Southbourne in Hampshire. After a rather 

 lengthy quest we managed to obtain four, a male and a female 

 from under the same shelter, and two females singly : one of 

 the females was set free. When exposed to the light they all 

 (or most) assumed the " threatening attitude," with callipers 

 thrown forward over the back, and remained still, not trying to 

 escape. In the evening, by artificial light, some nearly raw 

 meat was given them, and the male at least ate of it freely. 

 One of the females was noticed scratching briskly with mid and 

 fore legs in the sand that ha^ been placed in the box with 

 them, as if with intent to burrow. The male, which at some 

 time had received an injury, was moribund on August 24th, and 

 one of the females was in the same state on August 31st ; the 

 remaining female was given alive to Mr. G. T. Porritt on 

 September 11th. 



On August 26th we again visited the locality, and once more 

 four specimens were found — two by Eldon (a deformed male and 

 a very young nymph) and two by myself (a mature male and a 

 mature female). The deformed specimen had the tips of its 

 callipers bent at an angle and turned inwards (fig. 1), and had 



