THE ATHALIA GROUP OF THE GENUS MELIT^A. 259 



whatever may be the agency that brings about the result, that 

 their colour, whenever the surroundings are sufficiently definite, 

 assimilates — sometimes most accurately — to such surroundings. 

 C. paralleliis also varies much, but perhaps not so much as 

 S. bicolor ; on August 24th I took, in the New Forest, a green 

 female with yellow- brown dorsal streak along thorax, elytra, and 

 abdomen — this being a very striking form. The other British 

 relatives of these two species do not appear to vary to the same 

 extent, but perhaps this is because I have met with them in 

 fewer localities, or the nature of their habitat is less varied. Of 

 G. maculatus much the same may be said as of S. bicolor. On 

 August 21st, near Holm Hill, in the New Forest, on dark 

 soil which was not yet covered with vegetation after a fire, one 

 or two very dark specimens of G. maculatus were noticed, while 

 bright colours appeared to be absent ; amongst heather, on the 

 other hand, they are sometimes very prettily marked with 

 crimson and green. Gomphocerus rufus is much more constant 

 in the only locality in which I know it — Bookham Common, 

 Surrey — where, moreover, it does not seem to be very plentiful. 

 In hot sunshine in the New Forest one hears much chirping. 

 Is this always due to the wood cricket, Nemobius sylvestris, or is 

 Tennyson incorrect, when he says : — 



" For now the noonday quiet holds the hill ; 

 The grasshopper is silent in the grass." 



On August 6th Mecostethus grossus was taken in the New 

 Forest, and appeared to be but just becoming mature. It was 

 not easy to secure females whenever I was in search of this 

 species, though males were plentiful enough. 



Of the somewhat scarce grasshopper, Tetrix subulatus, 

 Messrs. D, Sharp and C. G. Lamb took two pairs by sweeping, 

 at Holmsley, in the New Forest, and the latter writes [in litt. 

 Oct. 3, 1909) : " We have run across both 2\ bipunctatiis and 

 T. subulatus here (Padstow, Cornwall), where they vary enor- 

 mously in size. The figure depicts one of Mr. Lamb's specimens 

 of T. subulatus ( x 3*25) with wings expanded. Such ample wings 

 are little suspected in so small an insect. 

 28, Knight's Park, Kingston-on-Thames. 



THE ATHALIA GEOUP OF THE GENUS MELITMA. 

 By Rev. George Wheeler, M.A., F.E.S. 



(Continued from p. 21G.) 



There is a further point with regard to the genital armature 

 to which it seems to me important to refer, because it is a case 

 in which the defects are mechanical and well within the possi- 

 bility of remedy. I allude to the utility (or in most cases the 



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