97 



[Reprinted from The Entomologist's Record, &c.,YoL XII., April, 1900.] 



On the British Orthoptera in the Hope Museum, Oxford. 



By MALCOLM BUEE, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



In the Hope collection, in the University Museum, at Oxford, there 

 are a number of old specimens of considerable interest, as many are 

 labelled in the handwriting of the late Professor Westwood, and some 

 in the handwriting of Stephens. Professor Poulton has been kind 

 enough to permit me to examine and rearrange them. The following 

 notes on some of the older specimens may be of interest. 



FoRFicuLARiA. — Lahidura riparia, Pall. — One ^ , two ? . " Eng- 

 land." No further information on the labels. They are very probably 

 some of the original specimens taken near Christchurch. Anisolabis 

 maritiwa, Bon. — " Northumberland. G. Wailes. 1857, end of Sep- 

 tember." These are evidently not some of the original examples taken 

 by Bold at South Shields, but those captured a few years later by 

 George Wailes, when he took a number of specimens for his careful 

 observations of the development of the antenna? and abdominal 

 segments, recorded by him in the Zoologist, vol. xvi., p. 5895, in a 

 paper that has to a large extent been overlooked, in spite of its great 

 interest. The insect was taken in heaps of ballast emptied by ships 

 returning from abroad, and it is practically certain that it was an 

 importation. It was first captured in 1856, and was still to be found 

 in 1860. It is unknown whether the species still exists there. Labia 

 minor, L. — Six ^ , ten $ , " Snowdon." Forflcula auricnlaria, L. — 

 Numerous examples. Two are labelled " borealis" in what I believe 

 to be Stephens' handwriting ; these are what I have always regarded 

 as the variety forcipata. The difference between the two is merely a 

 matter of the comparative length of the forceps. F. lesnci. Fin. — One 

 2 . " Kingstone," an old specimen. Apterijiiida albipennis, Meg. — 

 One pair, old, and in bad condition. There is no locality attached, 

 but the specimens are probably some of the originals taken at Ashford 

 by Westwood. In his handwriting they are labelled ^'F. centralis, 

 Westw., MS." 



Blattodea. — Ectobia laiqmiica, L. — Ten <? . " Sunning Hill, 

 Berks." E. livida, Fabr.^" Rudd. N. F." This species has been 

 previously recorded from the New Forest. E. panzcri, Steph. — Several 

 examples. Two males labelled " J. C. Dale, 1865." One specimen, a 

 male, is labelled " Blatta ni;iripes, Mus. Steph., in Notes on habits, 

 B. G. C," but it is too pale in colour to be the true form nigripes, and 

 does not agree with Stephens' own description. It is the ordinary 

 typical form. There are several specimens considerably darker in 

 colour, approaching more nearly to the true nigripcs. One dark speci- 

 men is labelled " Rev. W. Kirby, lapponica.'' There is one ? with 

 ootheca labelled " Black Gang Chine." Phijllodrowia (jeniianica, L. — 

 This species is usually considered to have been introduced into England 

 by the soldiers returning from the Crimea, but we have distinct 

 evidence here that it was numerous in parts of England before that 

 date. There are several old specimens, one of which is labelled 

 " Infesting the kitchens of houses at Kildare, Ireland, living behind 



