676 



GRYLLOTALPA-GRYLLUS. 



cies has the plumage deep brown, with reflections of 

 red and green on the quills and coverts ; the upper 

 part of the neck white ; the bill reddish ash, with a 

 blue tip ; and the feet blackish; the length about two 

 feet nine inches. 



CAURALE (Eurypyga) inhabits Guiana. The head 

 black with white lines, the neck yellowish brown, the 

 upper parts beautifully marked with brown, red, and 

 yellow. It is found along the banks of the rivers, but 

 very little is known respecting it farther than that 

 it is a handsome bird, and does not readily fall within 

 any genus of which there are species in the east. 



GRYLLOTALPA (Latreille.) A genus of or- 

 thopterous insects belonging to the section Saltatoria, 

 and to the family of the Achetidce, or crickets the 

 type of the genus being the Gryllus gryllotalpa, Lin- 

 naeus, or the Gryllotalpa vu/garis of recent authors, 

 generally known by the ordinary English name ot the 

 mole cricket. See the articles CRICKET and ENTO- 

 MOLOGY, in the latter of which the curious fore-leg of 

 this insect, formed for burrowing under ground in 

 the same manner as the mole, is represented. 



GRYLLUS (Linnaeus). Under this name Linnaeus 

 comprised a very extensive group of insects belonging 

 to the modern order Ortlioptera (part of the Hemip- 

 tcra, Linnaeus), and forming, in recent classifications, 

 the section Saltatoria, or those furnished with hind 

 legs fitted for leaping, as described in our article 

 GRASSHOPPER. This group of insects, however, com- 

 prised three very distinct sections, and these have 

 been raised to the rank of families by more recent 

 authors, although the nomenclature of such families 

 is very confused. 



The first of these families comprises the crickets, 

 of which an account will be found, p. 176 of the pre- 

 sent volume. It is named Achcetidce by Leach, but 

 by Latreille Gryllides, and by Mac Leay Gryllina. 



The second family comprises all the grasshoppers 

 which have long antennae. These are the Grylli 

 tetligonicB of Linnaeus, the Gryllidce of Leach, the 

 Locustaria: of Latreille, and the Locitstina of Mac 

 Leay. We have already, in our article npon the 

 CRICKETS, alluded to the incorrect application of the 

 latter names, which ought surely to be given to the 

 family containing the destructive locust, and which is 

 the type of 



The third family, named Gryllus locusta by Lin- 

 naeus, Acrydii by Latreille, Acridina by MacLeay, and 

 Locustidce by Leach, and which is distinguished from 

 the grasshoppers belonging to the second family by 

 the shortness of the antenna?, which are filiform, 

 prismatic, or sometimes slightly thickened at the tips. 

 To this family belong a very great number of small 

 species, common in this country, found amongst 

 grass and in hot sandy places, and to which the name 

 of grasshoppers is applied, as well as to the species 

 of the former family. Further details relative to 

 these insects will, however, be found under the head 

 LOCUSTIP^:. It only remains for us. therefore, in 

 this place, to give an account of the species belong- 

 ing to the second family, or the true Gryllidce. 



In addition to the principal characters derived 

 from the great length of the setaceous antennae, the 

 tarsi are only four-jointed ^ the ovipositor of the fe- 

 males is long and often sabre-shaped, and the upper 

 wings of the male exhibit a glass-like area, described 

 more at large in our article GRASSHOPPER. From 

 the cricket family they are distinguished by the wings 

 being deflexed when at rest ; the mandibles are not 



so much toothed, and the- exterior lobe of the max- 

 illae larger than in the last-mentioned insects. 



These insects, at least such as inhabit this country, 

 are comparatively of a large size, considerably ex- 

 ceeding the other grasshoppers in this respect ; indeed 

 the typical species may be regarded as our most 

 gigantic insects, although the exotic Lncustida: con- 

 siderably exceed them in bulk, as well as in strength 

 and compactness of structure. There are about a 

 dozen native species, but the exotic and tropical 

 species are far more numerous, as well as more 

 beautiful in their colouring. Mr. Kirby united them 

 into a single genus, to which he applied the name of 

 Acrida ; but more recent authors, who have extended 

 their investigations to the entire family, including the 

 exotic species, have established numerous generic 

 divisions, and the native species are now distributed 

 into the following six genera, in the work of Mr. 

 Stephens, published during the past summer, viz. : 

 Ephippigera, Micropteryx, Xiphidion, Meconcma, 

 Dccticus, and Phasgonura. The last-named genus is 

 distinguished by having the crown of the head acute 

 produced in front, between the antenna: ; the eyes 

 large and prominent ; the wing-covers large in both 

 sexes, those of the males having a small ocellus ; the 

 ovipositor of the female long and straight, and the 

 under side of the thorax armed with two spines and 

 four lobes. This genus comprises the common groat 

 green grasshopper (Gryllus viridissimus, Linnaeus), 

 which is nearly two inches long, and found at the 

 beginning of autumn in grassy places and in hedges by 

 the sides of woods. We have found it not uncom- 

 monly in Battersea-fields. Lehmann, in his memoir 

 " De sensibus externis insectorum," &c., p. 23, records 

 some curious observations upon this insect, made by 

 an Italian naturalist with a view to ascertain their 

 powers of hearing. These insects, which fill the 

 meadows with their singing, immediately become 

 silent on our approaching the spot, so that it is dif- 

 ficult to trace their retreat, unless the greatest caution 

 is used in seeking them. Brunelli tried various ex- 

 periments with numerous individuals, which he kept 

 in a chamber, and which kept up a constant chirping 

 all day long. A knock at the door, however, imme- 

 diately silenced them. He also learned to imitate 

 their chirp, and when he performed this outside the 

 door of the room, a few only would at first reply, but 

 by-and-bye the whole joined in the chorus with all 

 their force ; on tapping again at the door, they were 

 silent and alarmed. He also placed a male in a little 

 cage in his garden, and set a female at liberty, which, 

 as soon as she heard the chirping of the male, ap- 

 proached and leaped upon his cage, which was also 

 the case in whatever part of the garden the female 

 might be. 



These insects are, like the locusts, herbivorous, 

 feeding, in all their states, upon grass and herbs, 

 although, when confined together in a small box, they 

 will devour each other. This, however, appears to 

 be the result of fear, rather than a natural appetite. 

 We once caught one of them, which, being held by 

 one of its hind legs, gave a sudden spring and jerked 

 off its leg, which was placed with the insect in a 

 bottle ; by the following morning, however, we found 

 that this'portion of itself was half devoured. The 

 long ovipositor with which these insects are furnished, 

 enables them to deposit their eggs at a considerable 

 depth in the earth, in small rounded cells. The young 

 ones, when hatched, resemble their parents in form 



