1889.] 419 



about as far as the third abdominal segment. Wings much shorter than the elytra 

 in both sexes, hyaline. Posterior femora with the knees fuscous. Valves of the 

 ovipositor without an external basal tooth. • Length, 13 — 25 mm. 



Parallelus is found everywhere in meadows and open ground. 

 In colour it is extremely variable, and this is most marked in $ . I 

 believe in this species, as in many other Orthoptera, the variation in 

 colour is to a great extent protective ; the $ does not fly, and I have 

 always found that the prevailing colour of the ground vegetation is 

 closely copied in the insect. Specimens entirely green above or en- 

 tirely red are found confined to patches of the same colour, though 

 within a few yards of one another, and again, the two colours are 

 sometimes so mixed, that it is very difficult to see the insect when on 

 a like-coloured vegetation ; this I noticed particularly on the top of 

 the "West Cliff at Bournemouth. 



Charpentier's montanus is a variety, with the wings and elytra perfectly de- 

 veloped in both sexes. I have not found it in this country. Stephens' description 

 of Lo. tnontana doubtless refers to this variety, but his speoimen so labelled is 

 elegans, Charp. 



Podistna pedestris, L. — Stephens (Mandib., vi, p. 29) describes this as British, 

 his description no doubt is all right, but his specimens, of which there was a long 

 series, in the British Museum are all parallelus, Zett., $ . Some time ago Dr. Henri 

 de Saussure, of Geneva, kindly sent me specimens of Pezotettix pedestris, L., and 

 they are quite distinct from anything we have here ; but the general distribution of 

 the species in Europe may justify us in the hope of re-establishing it as British. 



hi.— GOMPHOCERUS, Leach. 



This genus differs from Stenobothrus in the antenna being clubbed 



at the tip ; the tympanum on the first abdominal segment is partly 



open, and the pronotum, compared with the length of the insect, is 



not so long. 



Table of Species. 



1 (2) Elytra with the mediastinal area dilated at the base ; antennte whitish at 



the tip 1. rufus, Linne. 



2 (1) Elytra with the mediastinal area undilated at the base ; antennae con- 



colorous . 2. maculatus, Thunb. 



1. — GoMPHOCEEUS etjpus, Linne. 

 Qryllus rufus, Linne, Syst. Nat., i, 2, p. 702. 

 Stenobothrus (Gomph.) rufus, Fischer, Orth. Eur., p. 348, tab. xvii, 



figs. 9, 9a. 

 Gomphocerus rufus, Steph., Mandib., vi, p. 30, pi. xxviii, fig. 6 ; Brunner, 



Prod, der Enr. Orth., p. 131. 



General colour reddish-fuscous, with some paler markings. Antennre with the 

 tip of the clubbed part acuminate and whitish. Eoveolse of the vertex small ; frons 

 produced forwards above, pale with fuscous markings, with the median sulcus not 



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