186 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ORTHOPTERA IN 1907. 



By W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S. 



(Plate VI.) 



Looked at from the point of view of the student of the 

 British Orthoptera, 1907 presented few features of special im- 

 portance, though matters of minor interest were not altogether 

 absent. The weather, at any rate in the South of England, 

 seemed not to affect adversely this order of insects in the same 

 way as it did the Lepidoptera. 



FoRFicuLODEA. — Labia minor, though considered a common 

 insect, does not, in my own experience, make itself at all con- 

 spicuous. I met with but one, a female, seen on the wing in 

 Surbiton Station on July 14th, and caught on an umbrella. 

 While it was moving the pale joints at the tip of the antennae 

 were very noticeable, though perhaps the black background of 

 the umbrella made them more conspicuous than they would 

 otherwise have been. Mr. E. J. B. Sopp tells me he found it 

 flying over manure on Rusthall Common, Tunbridge Wells, on 

 April 1st, and that he met with it at Broadstairs (June) and 

 Eastbourne (September). On August 1st I sought for and found 

 Lahidura riparia near Christchurch, in Hants. Males and 

 females were present, though but two of the former were taken. 

 Of several immature specimens found one was very small. The 

 developing wings, when examined with a lens, are interesting 

 objects of observation in the nj'mphs. From Mr. Burr I received 

 in the autumn Forjicula lesnei from Folkestone, and also, which 

 is much more interesting, Apterygida media {albipennis) , taken 

 September 24th, a few miles from Dover. This, following the 

 late Mr. Chitty's rediscovery of the species in another part of 

 Kent, is most satisfactory. 



Blattodea. — On August 24th an Ectohia lapponica was cap- 

 tured in the New Forest on vegetation close to the ground, and 

 on August 8th Ectohia panzeri was taken on a pathway in the 

 New Forest. This latter species seems to be well distributed 

 over the southern parts of the Forest at least, although perhaps 

 it is usually a coast insect with us. Mr. E. C. Bedwell gave me 

 two specimens of Ectohia livida taken at Boxhill, Surrey, on 

 August 11th (and one from Mickleham Downs, taken on August 

 19th of the previous year). Mr. E. J. B. Sopp reports Phyllo- 

 dromia germanica from Dover, Ramsgate, and Hastings, and Mr. 

 W. Daws tells me of his having found Blatta orientalis in a 

 garden on March 29th {vide Entom. xl. 110). On May 22nd, in 

 the so-called insect-house at the Zoological Gardens, Periplaneta 

 americana was quite at home in a wild state, and apparently its 

 presence there was well-known to the sparrows, for while we 



