BRACHYTRUPES ACHCETINUS:! 
STOLL. 
References :—Stol!. Gryll. pl. 2c. fig. 8 @. fig.?. 
Classification.—Order, ORTHOPTERA. Family, Gryltidz. 
VERNACULAR NAME.—Thigi péka (Chittagong Hill Tracts). 
Description. 
The following is a description of this large thick-set cricket: 
Body smoky brown, shining above; yellowish beneath. Pro. 
thorax longish and only slightly narrower behind, edged all 
round with a short dorsal furrow, and a faint cross line behind ; 
it has two yellowish patches, longer in the female than in the 
male. Elytra brown above, the portions bent down on each 
‘side yellowish. Abdominal appendages &ths of an inch long and 
yellowish. Tarsi yellowish; front tibia as long again as the 
tarsus; tibia of the hind legs furnished with two rows of 
strong spines, four on each side; the hair on the underside of 
the tarsal joint of front legs, as well as the fringe of its two 
claws, yellowish. Ovipositor of the female yellow, its valves 
brown on the outside. Antenne brownish. 
Length 24 inches. PI. I, fig. 1,a shows the larva and fig. 
1, b the full-grown insect. 
Life history. 
The insects were first noticed towards the end of April, they 
being then about a quarter grown, see. Pl. I, fig, 1 a. About the 
end of May to the middle of June they are two-thirds grown, 
being then 13 inches in length. They live in burrows in the 
ground. These they construct in soft sandy situations, the 
tunnel starting at an angle to the surface level and running ia a 

1 This insect was first reported tome by Ranger Ashut)sh Chakravatty, 
in charge of one of the ranges in the Chittagong Division, Bengal. The 
notes on the life history are from observations made by the Ranger and 
myself, whilst the crickets were attacking a young rubber nursery in 1¢00. 
