ACHETID^. — ACHETA. 39 



Genus XII.— ACHETA, Fabricius. 



Antennas inserted close to the eyes, remote at their base, consisting of 

 upwards of 100 articulations, and longer than the body ; head large, 

 rounded, somewhat transverse ; eyes lateral, slightly exserted ; ocelli three, 

 rather obsolete ; thorax transverse-quadrate, flat above; elytra f\.a.i, hori- 

 zontally incumbent, irregularly veined in the males, and abruptly inflexed 

 towards the humeral angle; wings ample, or wanting; abdomen rather 

 stout and short, its apex with two slender elongate pilose styles, and in the 

 female with a long porrected ovipositor ; anterior legs short and simple ; 

 posterior nearly as long as the body, with iheir femora thickened, the knees 

 swollen, and the tihioe, with a double row of moveable spines. 



Unlike the Gryllotalpas, these insects have the anterior legs very- 

 slender, and not materially dissimilar to the second pair ; but the 

 hinder pair are elongated, and have incrassated femora, as in the 

 Locusts : the head is very broad, and the antennje are remote at 

 their origin ; the thorax is short and transverse ; the females have a 

 long exserted ovipositor : the eggs are deposited either in a cell under 

 the surface of the earth, or in holes in old kitchen walls ; in con- 

 structing which they are assisted by their powerful jaws : the eggs 

 are hatched in about a fortnight or three weeks, and the imago (at 

 least in the domestic species) appears in about three or four months : 

 all the species are remarkable for their loud chirping noise. 



Sp. 1. campestris. Niger, nitidus, capite thorace majore, elytris griseo-fuscis, 

 nigro-reticulatis, ad basin et externe dilutioribus, obscuro-Jlavescentibus,femo- 

 rihus posticis supra sanguineis. (Long. corp. 1 unc. 4 — 8 lin.) 



Gryl. campestris. Linne. — Sowerby B. M. v. L pi. 64. — Ac. campestris. 

 Steph. Catal. 303. No. 3348. 



Robust ; deep shining black ; head larger than the thorax, the latter nearly 

 twice as broad as long, rather widest in front ; elytra griseous-brown, 

 irregularly reticulated with black nervures ; the base and inner side palest, 

 or dull yellowish; wings small, much shorter than the elytra in the male, 

 but longer in the female ; posterior femora beneath blood-red at the base. 



The ovipositor in the female is nearly as long as the abdomen, and ascends ; 

 and the elytra are deep black and regularly reticulated. 



This is a rare species, at least, I would rather say, is but seldom 

 captured, on account of its extreme shyness ; but I am inclined to 

 believe that it is far from uncommon in several parts of the south of 

 England : it has been fovmd in the vicinity of London and at 

 Windsor, in the New Forest, Devonshire, Cornwall, &c., but I 



