38 . 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



acquaintance with M. roeselii in a state of nature. A visit to a 

 locality near Heme Bay where it occurred many years ago — 

 a slope overgrown with thistle, ragwort, and other plants — re- 

 sulted in my detecting a few specimens, although the finding and 

 taking of them was a matter of some difficulty. 



The coloration of the male seems to be more constant than 

 that of the female, and I have not seen a specimen having the 

 hind femora otherwise than light brown. The most variable 

 characters are the pleural and abdominal spots and the pro- 

 thoracic border, which may be either bright grass green or 

 bright yellow, or even some intermediate colour. In some 

 specimens the pale brown summit of the head has a median 

 longitudinal line of lighter colour, which may continue across 

 the pronotum, bordered on each side with black. 



A note was kept of the coloration of a female taken at Heme 

 Bay on August 28th, which it may be useful to quote here, 

 although, as will appear subsequently, the description did not 

 apply, in several of its details, to other females which were 

 examined in the living state : — 



Face dark green. Palpi greenish. Eyes dark chestnut; a 

 large black spot above each, crossed by a narrow line of 

 yellowish running backwards from the eye. Antennae chestnut. 

 Upper surface of head and prothorax light brown, with a 

 yellowish median longitudinal line, bordered on each side with 

 black. Lateral lobes of prothorax black, edged all round with 

 bright grass green. Elytra light brown, with the principal 

 longitudinal veins black. Three large green spots on each side 

 of the thorax. Tibiae of the fore and mid-legs greenish. Femora 

 of the fore and mid-legs, and the whole of the hind legs, light 

 brown. External surface of the hind femur with numerous stout 

 transverse black lines. Abdomen above and anal appendages 

 light brown ; sides of abdomen greenish ; a row of greenish- 

 yellow markings along each side of the abdomen ; ventral 

 surface light brown. Ovipositor mostly black. 



In some of the adult females which I have seen alive, 

 however, bright green has been very conspicuous in their 

 coloration, especially as regards the femora of the hind legs, 

 whereas in others the preponderating colour has been light 

 brown. 



At various times during August and September I succeeded 

 in keeping two males and four females alive in captivity for 

 periods ranging from six to twenty days. All, or nearly all, 

 these specimens underwent a certain amount of change in their 

 coloration, the green of the prothoracic border and of the lateral 

 spots on the thorax and abdomen tending to become yellow, 

 especially in the male, and the greenness of the fore and mid- 

 legs giving place to light brown. In the two Essex males taken 

 on September 22nd the colour of the border, at the time of 



