XII 



ACRIDIIDAE 



299 



exhibits distinctions of colour similar to those that have been 

 observed in S. peregrina in Algeria. 



In Britain we are now exempt from the ravages of locusts, though 

 swarms are said to have visited England in 1693 and 1748. 

 Individuals of the migratory species are, how- 

 ever, still occasionally met with in England 

 and the south of Scotland. F. cinerascens has 

 been recorded from Kerry in Ireland, but 

 erroneously, the Insect found being Mecos- 

 tetlms grossus (Fig. 173). According to Miss 

 Ormerod,^ large locusts are imported to this 

 country in fodder in considerable numbers, 

 but are usually dead ; living individuals are. 



however, sometimes found among the others. 

 In 1869 living specimens of Schistocerca 

 peregrina were found in various parts of the 

 country, having, in all probability, arrived 

 here by crossing the German Ocean. Pachy- 

 tylus cinerascens has also, it is believed, 

 occurred here, the specimens that have been 

 recorded at different times under the name of 

 P. migrato7''ius being more probably the former 

 species. 



Although the majority of the very large 

 number of species included in Acridiidae are 

 recognised with ease from their family like- 

 ness as belonging to the group, yet there are 

 others that present an unusual aspect. This 

 is specially the case with the members of the 

 small tribes Tettigides, Proscopides, and 

 Pneumorides, and with some of the apterous 

 forms of the Oedipodides. The tribe Pros- 

 copides (Fig. 178, Cephalocoema lineata, 

 female) includes some of the most curious of 

 the Acridiidae. Breitenbach gives ^ a brief 

 account of the habits of certain species which 

 he met with near Porto Alegre in South 

 America. On a stony hill there was some 

 grass which, by several months' exposure to the sun's rays, 

 ^ Rep. injurious Trisects, xvii, 1893, p. 47. ^ Ent. Nachricht. viii. 1882, p, 



Fig. 178.. Cephalocoema 

 lineata, female, x f . 

 S. America. (After 

 Brunuer.) 



had 



160. 



