NOTES ON BRITISH ORTHOPTERA IN 1921. 201 



Gryllodea. — Nemobius sylvestris, Fabr., did not make itself 

 noticeable in the New Forest, but it was not necessarily less 

 common than usual. Between 31 Aug. and 20 Sept. a few small 

 nymphs were met with on one occasion ; possibly the drought 

 had caused the imagines to be over early, as I did not see any. 

 E. A. C. Stowell on a visit to Selborne enquired for the " Short 

 Lithe," where Gilbert White used to get the Field Cricket, 

 Gryllus campestris, Linn. ; but, if his identification was correct, 

 found it now planted with beech. One interesting accompani- 

 ment of the long drought was a great recrudescence of the 

 activities of the House Cricket, Gryllus domesticus, Linn. For 

 some years I had not seen or heard this insect in the Kingston 

 district, but during tbe summer and autumn it was remarkably 

 evident in Kingston, Surbiton and New Maiden at least. At 

 night one was greeted with its chirpings out of doors in all 

 directions, and this continued well into October, the sound 

 becoming fainter at last, as if the insects were retiring indoors. 

 Since they could not have arisen spontaneously, the race 

 apparently must have been continuing somewhat obscurely, till 

 tbe hot and dry weather caused a great increase in their numbers, 

 and brought them out of doors and so into prominent notice. 

 K. G. Blair makes a similar report for Hendon in June. H. M. 

 Hallett tells me (in litt. 19 Aug., 1921) that the House Cricket 

 swarms in the town refuse-tip at Penarth in Glamorganshire, 

 but seems very much scarcer in houses than it used to be, 

 though he had heard it recently both in Penarth and Cardiff, as 

 well as in colliery villages in the county. On 5 December I 

 heard one in the evening at the Boyal Caledonian School, Bushey, 

 Herts, and was told that the Crickets were common there and 

 were found to be a nuisance. When attention was called 

 to the chirp, one person present discovered that be could not 

 hear it, the pitch presumably being too high. At the beginning 

 of May the next year (1922) I received a female from the School, 

 where they were then not numerous. It had a double postal 

 journey before reaching me, but arrived apparently quite well. 

 No doubt other observers could report an increase last summer 

 in the number and activity of the House Cricket. K. G. Blah- 

 had brought to him a female of Gryllus bimaculatus, De Geer, 

 from the London Docks in August. This of course is only a 

 •casual arrival. 



Locustodea. — Pholidoptera griseoaptera, De Geer, was taken 

 at Send in Surrey on 28 July *(G. Fox- Wilson). One captured 

 on 13 September "in the New Forest, when eviscerated, contained 

 only yellowish eggs, apparently not ready for laying (Lucas). 

 H. M" Hallett reports that Phasgonura viridissima, Linn., is not 

 uncommon in parts of Glamorganshire. He has several times 

 come across it himself, and others have sent or shown it to him. 

 Two males of Leptophyes punctatissima, Bosc, were taken at 



