THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 54.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1857. [Prick \i. 
LOCUSTS. 
So numerous have been the communi- 
cations vve have received announcing 
the captures of specimens of Gryllus 
migratorius that we have been obliged 
to desist from publishing them. Though 
the comet has not come, the locusts 
have ; several hundreds appear to have 
been captured, and no doubt many more 
have escaped detection. They have not 
been confined to the South-Eastern part 
of our island, but have been also met 
with in the North and West. Yorkshire 
has distinguished itself especially as a 
locust-detecting county, some have oc- 
curred in Scotland, and Devonshire and 
even Ireland have likewise furnished 
specimens. In the Emerald Isle, in- 
deed, one obligingly attended at Dublin 
during the meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation, and allowed itself to be ex- 
hibited to the admiring savans. 
But is the locust the only southern 
species of the Orthoptera which has 
visited our coasts this year? A semi- 
tropical heat may well have produced 
other wonders, yet none have been re- 
corded. A Sicilian species, Odontura 
serrata, has been found this season at 
Glogau, and is it not more than pro- 
bable that a real collector of grass- 
hoppers in this country might have 
found something quite as extraordi- 
nary ? 
The fact seems to be that we have 
no Orthopterisls in this country, and 
that consequently nothing short of a 
locust attracts the attention here. We 
presume “ they manage these things 
belter in France.” 
Why should not grasshoppers be made 
the subject of a collection as much as 
longicorn beetles? The long, slender 
form is common to both classes of in- 
sects, and though the grasshoppers 
proper can hardly be said to be dis- 
tinguished by the length of the antennae, 
they make up behind for what they want 
in front, and by their well-developed 
hind legs surely have some claims to 
attention. 
The time has been when Nocluce and 
Geometrce of unusual occurrence have 
haunted our woods and lanes un- 
noticed, though at that time Camber- 
well Beauties and Death’s Heads were 
noticed and marvelled at ; now, the 
more inconspicuous Lepidopterous fry 
are as eagerly sought as the larger and 
more striking species, and no doubt 
the time will come when a new or rare 
grasshopper will be made much of, and 
attract more attention in the “World 
c 
