BRITISH GRASSHOPPERS 



S69 



For an interesting record of the latter 

 accident I am greatly indebted to Mr. 

 O. H. Latter, the species in question 

 being a male of Acridium .Egypiium, 

 a South European Locust, who emerged 

 from a hamper of cauliflowers imported 

 in 1904 by a Godalming greengrocer. A 

 cattle drover was called in — presumably 

 armed — but the result of his good sense 

 in bringing the insect to Mr. Latter aUve, 

 is that I am enabled to include a picture 

 of it set so as to display the remarkable 



spikes on a Grasshopper's shins, which 

 terminate just in front of the tarsal 

 joints with two or more quite formid- 

 al)le spurs, serve, in some fashion, as 

 offensive or defensive weapons. In the 

 case of our small Field Grasshoppers the 

 extreme ease with which the hind-leg 

 is dislocated at the lijp-j(jint precludes 

 the Hkehhood of their habitually kicking 

 in self-defence. The only British insect 

 who, in my experience, kicks with a 

 will is the sturdily built Field Cricket. 





TWO MALE BUSH-CHEEPS (T. CIXEKEL'S) PREPARING 

 FOR COMBAT. 



attitude which it adopts when frontally 

 attacked. Mr. Latter's description is that 

 it " swings its hind-legs forward and 

 makes a vicious upper cut " with the 

 spines which arm its shins. The force of 

 this slash, or kick, is sufficient to draw 

 blood from the finger. 



It should be noticed that this Short- 

 horned Locust is an enlarged edition of 

 our Common Field Grasshopper, and it 

 may be well to point out that all 

 "Locusts" — using the word in its gener- 

 ally accepted meaning — have short 

 antennae, and for this reason are referred 

 to the Acridiodea, not, as might reason- 

 ably be supposed, to the " Long-horned " 

 Locustidse. 



Though, with the possible exception 

 of the Great Green Grasshopper {LocHstu 

 viridissima). none of our British Saltatoria 

 are sufficiently well armed to do any but 

 trivial damage to the human hand, there 

 can be httle doubt that the twin rows of 



Grasshoppers most frequently display 

 their resentment by the emission of a 

 dark coloured fluid from the mouth. I 

 have no knowledge of the chemical 

 composition of this fluid, but the fact 

 that, in the case of one magnificent 

 Long-horn [Dedicus verrucivorus), it is 

 used as a remedy for warts, points to 

 the likeUhood of its being corrosive. 



The great variation of colour in Short- 

 horned, as opposed to Long-horned Grass- 

 hoppers, may be a general protective 

 adaptation to their surroundings. A leaf- 

 green body colour is, of course, a speciali- 

 sation, and is to be met with chiefly in 

 Long-horned Grasshoppers who habitually 

 perch in the green some distance above 

 ground level — in Leptophyes pnnctatis- 

 sima, for example, who affects the sunny 

 side of high nettles; in Mccouema varium, 

 a " tree " Grasshopper mostly found on 

 the oak and hazel ; in Xiphidium dorsale, 

 and in the Great Green Grasshopi)er 



