Stenobothrus viridulus, Linn. 



bicolor, Charp. 



parallelus, Zett. 

 Gomphocerus maculatus, Thunb. 



INSECTS 



ACRIDIIDAE 



Grasshoppers 



All of these have and is supposed to have been imported with 



been taken in bananas from the Canary Isles 



various localities, Schistocerca peregrina, Oliv. This North African 



and are probably locust visited England in 1869, and was 



common through- taken in many English counties, including 



out the county. Nottinghamshire. (Roebuck in Naturalist, 



Acridium aegyptium, Linn. A fine specimen of this, 1876 7, p. izgetseq.) 



the largest of the European Acridiidae, was Tettix bipunctatus, Linn. Burton Joyce and Ret- 



captured in Nottingham market-place in 1902, ford 



LOCUSTIDAE 



Green or Long-horned Grasshoppers 



Leptophyes punctatissima, Bosc. N. and S. Leverton ; Tresviell Wood ; Colston Bassett 

 Meconema varium, Fab. Aspley and Tresivell Woods 



GRYLLIDAE 

 Crickets 



Gryllus domesticus, Linn. The common cricket occurs in houses in Nottingham and Retford (and doubtless 

 elsewhere) 



NEUROPTERA 



This order, as usually defined, is a somewhat heterogeneous assemblage of insects which are 

 provided in most cases with two pairs of thin semi-transparent membranous wings with net-like 

 venation. It includes among others the Stone-flies [Perlldae\ Dragon-flies (Odonata), May-flies 

 (Ephemeridae), Alder-flies and Snake-flies (Sia/idaej, Scorpion-flies (Panorpidae), Lacewing-flies 

 (Hemerobiidae), and Caddis-flies (Trichapttra). 



The Stone-flies may be known by the long narrow fore-wings and the much larger and 

 broader hind-wings which are folded in repose. The larvae are aquatic, and found chiefly in 

 swiftly-running streams and about waterfalls ; hence we have very few species in Nottinghamshire, 

 where such conditions scarcely exist. The Dragon-flies are perhaps the best known of the 

 Neuroptera, owing to their conspicuous colouring and rapid flight while hawking for insects in the 

 sunshine. They are easily recognized by their large and very mobile head with tiny, bristle-like 

 antennae, large eyes, long slender abdomen, and wings of nearly equal size, which have a transparent 

 glassy appearance and cannot be folded when the insect is at rest. About a dozen species have been 

 taken in the county. In the May-flies the fore-wings are very much larger than the hind-wings, 

 which indeed are sometimes wanting ; the venation is very close and complex ; the antennae are 

 very small, and the body bears at its hinder extremity two or three very long slender tails. The 

 larvae are aquatic, but unlike the exclusively carnivorous stone-flies and dragon-flies their food is 

 largely vegetable. The adult insect takes no food during its brief life. 



The Alder-flies (Sialides) have a squarish head, bearing a pair of rather long antennae ; the 

 wings are similar in character, the hinder pair being rather the smaller ; in repose they meet 

 together over the back like a roof, after the fashion of those of a noctuid moth. The larvae are 

 aquatic and carnivorous. Stalls tutaria, a sober-looking insect with black body and pale brown 

 wings, is very common amongst the vegetation about canals, slow streams, and ponds. The Snake- 

 flies (Raphidiides) are easily recognized by the long constricted neck formed by the elongation of the 

 prothorax and hinder part of the head. The larvae are terrestrial, living in rotten wood and feeding 

 upon other insects. The Scorpion-flies (Panorpa) are distinguished by the prominent beak-like 

 prolongation of the head, and in the males by the terminal segments of the abdomen being 

 curved up like the tail of a scorpion. The antennae are long and slender, and the wings narrow 

 and shining. The fore-wings are only slightly larger than the others. The larvae are terrestrial, 

 very similar to those of the Saw-flies, and as well as the flies are carnivorous. The Hemeroiiidae, 

 to which family the beautiful Lace-wing flies or ' golden eyes ' (Chrysopa) belong, are useful insects, 

 inasmuch as the larvae feed exclusively on aphides or ' green fly,' whose juices they suck. The 

 larvae of some of the species of both Hemerobius and Chrysopa have the curious habit of covering 

 themselves with the empty skins of the aphides that they have sucked dry. 



The Caddis-flies have the wings clothed with hairs, a feature which at once distinguishes them 

 from all other Neuroptera 5 in repose the wings meet at an angle, roof-like, over the back, and this 

 i 81 ii 



