THE OETHOPTEltA OF GUERNSEY. 115 



constant warmth. The Mole Cricket, Gryllotalpa vulgaris, is 

 an extremely curious looking insect. It leads an underground 

 existence ; its front legs are remarkable structures, being 

 much dilated and admirably adapted for burrowing through 

 the earth. Its habits have been described by Gilbert White 

 in his celebrated " Natural History of Selborne." He tells 

 us that " a gardener at a house where I was on a visit happen- 

 ing to be mowing on the 6th of that month (May) by the side 

 of a canal, his scythe struck too deep, pared off a large piece 

 of turf, and laid open to view a curious scene of domestic 

 economy. There were many caverns and winding passages 

 leading to a kind of chamber, neatly smoothed and rounded, 

 and about the size of a moderate snuff-box. Within the 

 secret nursery were deposited near a hundred eggs of a dirty 

 yellow colour, and enveloped in a tough skin, but too lately 

 excluded to contain any rudiments of young, being full of a 

 viscid substance. The eggs lay but shallow and within the 

 influence of the sun, just under a little heap of fresh moved 

 mould, like that which is raised by ants." This insect is 

 rather common in Guernsey, and usually haunts moist 

 meadows and the sides of streams. It is sometimes stated 

 that it causes great injury to the farmer by destroying young 

 plants. I had several specimens brought to me last year, the 

 party who brought them stating that they had destroyed a 

 number of plants in his greenhouse. On enquiry I found that 

 the greenhouse had been recently built in a meadow, right 

 over a stream. 



The Gryllidce, or false Locusts, are represented in 

 Guernsey by Pasgonura viridissima, or the great Green Grass- 

 hopper, a large species measuring nearly four inches across 

 the wings when expanded ; and Platycleis grisea, a much 

 smaller species, which is found only on the cliffs of the 

 southern coast. It is local in England, preferring chalky 

 maritime districts. 



The LocustidcB includes the common Grasshoppers and 

 true Locusts. They are easily separated from the two pre- 

 ceding families by their comparatively short antennas. Most 

 of the grasshoppers so common in our fields and on our cliffs 

 belong to the very variable species Stenobothrus bicolor. They 

 differ greatly in size and are of all shades of colour : green, 

 red, brown, and even black. The true locusts belong to this 

 family, and a specimen of that magnificent species, Locusta 

 -pcregrina, was captured alive in Mill Street in the autumn of 

 1881, and was the first Natural History specimen exhibited 

 to this Society. Specimens occurred in various parts of Eng- 



