INSECTS
297
MIRIDAE
Deraeocoris ruber (L.), Pilophorus perplexus Douglas and Scott. This
last is a curious black form which has the hemielytra so bent that it resembles
the abdomen of an ant. It is often found, in company with ants, on various
plants and trees.
It is my hope that these notes may stimulate others to study this interesting
group. The species named here are less than one tenth of those which should
be obtainable in Essex. I shall always be glad to identify or to have identified
any species of Heteroptera which members may come across. The standard
work on the group is Hemiptera-Heteroptera, by Edward Saunders, F.L.S.,
published by Reeve and Co., now out of print, but still occasionally available.
The nomenclature used in the present account is in accordance with
Kloet and Hincks : A Check List of British Insects, 1945.
First record of the Grouse Locust (Tetrix subulata (L.)) in Essex.—On the
Field meeting of 18 June 1950, the writer took a single specimen of this not-
uncommon orthopteron in a locality which it nevertheless seems inadvisable
to disclose precisely until further visits have shown whether there is an
adequate established colony there.
Burr's account of the group1 shows that up to the time of its publication
no record of this species had been made for Essex; a timely paper, this year,
by E. S. Brown- has saved me the anticipated labour of looking up records
since 1936. Brown's account, with a formidable list of recent references,
together with distribution maps, shows clearly that this is a new record for
the county. It was, however, to be expected that it would be met with,
since even in 1936 the species had been recorded in most of the neighbouring
counties ; its absence from Essex seems to have been apparent rather than
real. The present record represents rather the closing of a gap than anything
in the nature of a rarity.
The new diagnostics outlined by Brown2 mark the present specimen
unequivocally as a female Tetrix subulata. Its congener T. ceperoi is in any
case hardly to be expected in this area, being so far predominantly south-
western and coastal in distribution, with one record in east Kent3.
REFERENCES
1. Burr, M. 1936. British Grasshoppers and their Allies. London.
2. Brown, E. S. 1950. Notes on the Taxonomy, British distribution
and Ecology of Tetrix subulata (L.)) and T. ceperoi 1. Bolivar. J. Soc.
Brit. Ent. 3 (4).
3. Greenslade, R. M. 1942. Tetrix ceperoi I. Bolivar in Kent. Ent.
Rec. 54 : 30.
W. B. Broughton.
Some notes on Essex Lepidoptera in 1950.—The summer was productive
of few butterflies in anything like average abundance in south-west Essex;
even the common Whites were few in number for there was much inclement
weather. Only the Red Admiral appeared in normal numbers and this
species was common in late summer and until mid-October.
The following are pleasing records of butterflies which are not common
in the county: Several specimens of the Marbled White (Agapetes galathea
(L.)) were seen on the landward side of the marshes during the Club's visit
to Althorne on 16 July. Mr. F. F. Laidlaw writes that his son-in-law, the
Rev. L. Folkard, saw one of this species at Woodham Mortimer on 19 July.