170 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



On September 10th, 1892, one male was taken at Irstead in 

 Norfolk amongst tall rank grass close to the bank of the River 

 Bure, this being the first recorded capture of the species in 

 Britain since the taking of the Kerry specimen, which was 

 recorded by Mr. Ridley in January, 1881. In July, 1895, it 

 occurred in abundance in the West of Ireland, as recorded in 

 the ' Irish Naturalist,' vol. iv. pp. 228 and 258, by Mr. M. G. H. 

 Carpenter ; while in September of the same year Mr. B. G. Rye 

 took the species in Norfolk in some numbers by sweeping the 

 bog-myrtle (Mynca gale). The next year Mr. Wm. Jeffreys took 

 several in a bog, a few miles from Lyndhurst, in the New 

 Forest ; and he has also found it in another spot on the same side 

 of the Forest (in litt. 1897). Finally, in the beginning of August, 

 1898, Mr. J. J. F. X. King and myself found the species fairly 

 common in two bogs on the other side of the Forest. In that 

 season, which was a rather late one, it commenced to appear in 

 the imaginal form just about the beginning of August : as the 

 days went on it seemed to increase in numbers, but immature 

 specimens were still taken. Possibly in early years it may be in 

 the winged condition at the end of July. 



Perhaps the fact that M. grossus loves the wettest and there- 

 fore often the least accessible parts of the bogs, may have caused 

 it almost to escape notice for so long. As mentioned above, it 

 has been taken amongst bog-myrtle and rank grass, but these 

 conditions do not seem so much a necessity as a very wet state 

 of the soil. It readily takes to the wing when disturbed, and 

 then usually makes short but rapid flights of about ten or a 

 dozen yards ; but it will not move unless the sun is shining. 

 On the ground its colours harmonise so well with the grass and 

 rushes that it is extremely well protected, and, unless it took to 

 the wing, it would be seldom seen. When flying, however, it is 

 so conspicuous an insect that it is bound to be noticed. 



M . grossus is a bulky insect, varying greatly in size. Length 

 varies from 22 to 32 mm., and expanse of wings from 42 to 55 

 mm , the females being usually in both respects larger than the 

 males. Top of the head triangular, the blunt apex being forward. 

 Antennae filiform ; longer in proportion in the male than in the 

 female. Pronotum somewhat narrowed in front ; lateral ridges 

 nearly straight ; median ridge prominent ; transverse furrow 

 anterior to the middle : hind margin bluntly rounded. Elytra 

 more or less tinted with brown, especially at the apex ; a yellow 

 streak along the basal two-thirds of the costal region ; in other 

 parts nervures brown. Wings brownish at the tip ; more or less 

 hyaline elsewhere ; anterior nervures brown ; hinder ones mostly 

 colourless. Fore and mid legs brownish. Femur of hind legs 

 carmine beneath, with an internal black streak ; swollen junction 

 of femur and tibia black ; tibia yellow, generally with two black 

 rings ; spines black. Valves of the ovipositor elongate. The 



