BRITISH ORTHOPTERA IN 1912. 45 



of a bright grass-green colour, whereas the published descrip- 

 tions of the insect give the colour as yellowish or yellowish- 

 white. Mr. Porritt considers that this opinion was obtained 

 from dried specimens, as he finds the green colour soon dis- 

 appears after the death of the insect, and, in fact, from some of 

 the earliest caught specimens, then on his setting-boards, the 

 green had already quite faded away. In other respects, also, 

 the colour is slightly different from that in published descrip- 

 tions. Two specimens were captured on the morning of Septem- 

 ber 9th, when a strong wintry gale was blowing, one of them 

 being that sent alive to me. The insects occurred amongst very 

 long grasses on the sandhills. Writing later in the same 

 month Mr. F. W. Campion told me that he and Mr. A. Luvoni 

 took the species at two or three places on the coast of Essex and 

 Kent, one of them being Heme Bay, where it has been taken 

 previously. Mr. Campion says that the specimen he described 

 in the 'Entomologist' (vol. xlv. p. 117) certainly had bright 

 yellow borders to the flaps of the pronotum, so that they are not 

 always bright green as Mr. Porritt found them. 



Acridiodea. — Gomphocerus maculatus was found mature in 

 the New Forest on June 29th. It was taken at Mynydd, in 

 Carnarvonshire, a hill 700 ft. above sea-level, by Mr. E. A. C. 

 Stowell, on August 8th-10th. Mr. S. E. Brock found this 

 species in mid-August very abundant in many spots amongst 

 short heather and bare ground at Kirkcowan, in the south of 

 Wigtonshire. In Linlithgowshire Mr. Brock tells me that he 

 has taken G. maculatus at Craigton (alt. about 250 ft.) on a 

 railway bank and waste ground adjoining in great numbers on 

 August 8th. He found it " in song " on June 23rd, 1912, in 

 Linlithgowshire. G. maculatus has an almost endless range of 

 colour variation ; some are richly spotted with cream, green, 

 red, dark-brown, &c. ; some are nearly black ; others, when the 

 elytra are closed, have a conspicuous pale stripe right down 

 the back. 



Omocestus viridulus was met with on August 8th-10th on 

 Mynydd Hill, in Carnarvonshire (E. A. C. Stowell) ; in mid- 

 August at Kirkcowan, where it was abundant and widespread, 

 especially along grassy roadsides, and also on the moors (S. E. 

 Brock) ; Linlithgow and Bathgate Hills, abundant and widely 

 spread all over the district (up to 800 ft.) along roadsides, 

 pasture-land, &c. ; the earliest date of the insect "in song" in 

 1912 was June 23rd (Brock). Mr. Brock has noticed its dis- 

 appearance within the last few years from one or two spots in 

 the highly cultivated country near Kirkliston, in Linlithgow- 

 shire. Mr. Whittaker reports 0. viridulus from Coventry. 

 Stauroderus hicolor was found on August 8th-10th on Mynydd 

 Hill (Stowell) ; in Cornwall at Sheirock, Port Wrickle, and 

 Whitesand Bay Hotel, at the beginning of September (Yerbury) ; 



