Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Entomology.djvu/259

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ACRIDA VERRUCIVORA.
253

group. Some have the wings and tegmina perfect, others are apterous; in some the males have an ocellus at the base of the tegmina, in others it is wanting; the mandibles of certain species are short, trigonate, and almost entire on the inner edge, while others have them long, acute, and dentate; finally, the ovipositor is sometimes curved and sometimes straight.


ACRIDA VERRUCIVORA.

Plate XIII. Fig. 2.

Gryllus verrucivorus, Linn. Fabr.— Roesel II. Gryll. VIII.

This handsome and not uncommon species, is nearly an inch and a half in length, the general colour green, with dark brown spots on the tegmina, and a few smaller ones on other parts of the body; the ovipositor of the female curved. It has obtained its name from a belief said to have once prevailed among the Swedish peasantry, that its bite and the black liquid which it disgorges into the wound were useful in removing warts. It is said to have occurred in this country: on the continent it is not rare.


PTEROPHYLLA OCELLATA.

Plate XIII. Fig. 3.

We here figure what Stoll regards, seemingly with propriety, as a variety of the Gryllus ocellatus of Linnæus, belonging to a remarkable group, at once distinguished from all others by the amplitude of their tegmina and wings. In its ordinary appearance the tegmina very much resemble a dry leaf, the disk inclining to a purplish colour; in the variety represented