ORTHOPTERA. GRYLLIDyi:. 455 



emits from the mouth being supposed to possess the power of making 



these excrescences vanish. 



The elegant green species, Meconema varia (so common upon 



oaks), is remarkable for the complete absence of any instrument for 

 stridulation in the wing-covers of the males. 



The fine green colours of many of these insects fade after death to 

 a dirty yellowish green or grey. 



Amongst the exotic species of this family, many present the most sin- 

 gular resemblance to leaves of various plants, whence the specific names 

 of Laurifolia, Lilifolia, Myrtifolia, &c. Some of these species are of 

 very large size, and ornamented with various colours, in which green 

 and greyish are the most prevalent. The Australian genus Prochilus 

 Smile seems to approach the Phasmidte in the slenderness of the 

 body and hind legs, and the oblong form of the prothorax. The Bra- 

 zilian Scaphurse K. (Piliger Thunb.) are remarkable for their singular 

 antennae, of which the basal joints are thickly clothed with short hairs. 

 The insects of this genus present a remarkable analogy with the large 

 Brazilian Pompilidae ; and Mr. Swainson has informed me that they 

 are very similar in their motions to these Hymenoptera, shaking their 

 wings and running about quickly. The Australian Acripeza re- 

 ticulata Guer. is distinguished by the short thick body of the female, 

 covered with a pair of swollen wing-covers, but destitute of wings ; 

 the males, on the contrary, are of the elongate ordinary form of the 

 family. Some singular species, of large size, inhabitants of the south 

 of Europe and Africa, are distinguished by their constantly apterous 

 condition. Such are the species of Saga, Tettigopsis, Bradypus, (!vc. ; 

 some of these are the most hideous-looking insects. But the Aus- 

 tralian genus Anostostoma G. R. Gray {M(i(j. Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. l-tS.), 

 in the immensely developed mouth, armed with enormous mandibles, 

 certainly far exceeds the rest in this respect. There are some sin- 

 gular allied species figured by Ilerbst (Na(u)f. Fremid. Berl. JVetie 

 Schr. tom. iv.). Hyperhomala virescens Boisd., from New Guinea, is 

 distinguished by the prothorax* extending completely over the abdo- 

 men like a pair of elytra. Strongyloderus scrraticollis Westw., from 

 India, is also remarkable for the large size of its prothorax, which is 

 dilated at the sides, and rounded ; whilst Condylodera tricondyloides 



* Servillu erroneously states that it is the metatliorax which is tluis extencied. '^Seo 

 my Memoir on the Thorax of Insects, in Entom, Mag. No. 25.) 



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