ACRIDIINJS. 
87 
if Mr. Kirby’s friend was correctly informed. The column extended five 
hundred miles, and was so dense as thoroughly to hide the sun, and pre¬ 
vent any object from casting a shadow. This horde was not composed 
of the migratory locust, but of a red species, which imparted a sanguine 
colour to the trees on which they settled.” (Cuvier’s Natural 
History, 1832, Vol. II, p. 207.) Acridium is also represented in the 
plains by rarer forms, large robust insects found chiefly on trees and 
bushes. 
Demodocus (Heteracris) includes large grasshoppers distinct from 
Acridium in having the pronotum more flattened with two dorsal light 
stripes enclosing a central dark fascia. T). robustus and D. cafensis , 
Thunb. are common species. 
Hieroglyphus banian, Fabr. (furcifer, Serv.), is known as the Rice 
Grasshopper and breeds freely in rice land and wet grassland (Plate 
Fig. 27— Hibroglyphus furcifer, micropterous form. 
VII). There is but one brood yearly, the eggs remaining in the soil from 
November to June. The tendency to abbreviation of the wings is very 
marked and in the same place can be found macropterous forms with 
intermediates to micropterous ones. There is a considerable amount of 
variation in size and a species (H. cotesii) was described which is prob¬ 
ably not valid. The common species can be found over a wide area of 
the moister parts of India. Amongst the most delightful of Indian 
