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recognized calls (stridulation). Should this
not be enough to tempt you to take a look at
them, they are a very small group of insects
which, if you are involved in larger groups,
such as Botany (as in my case), they can easily
be identified and recorded in the field along-
side such disciplines.
Normally, I would describe a little of their life
history with notes on individual species, but
in January of this year I assisted in the
publication of a booklet on their distribution
in Essex with descriptions of all the species
occurring in the county. It includes an
excellent key by Roger Payne on the Orthoptera
of Essex only, and should be particularly helpful
to the less experienced orthopterist. Distrib-
ution maps are on a 10 km. basis and many people
contributed to these records including details
from the three Essex Biological Recording Centres.
The publication can be obtained from these centres
at Colchester, Southend and Stratford at the
modest price of £1.20 excluding postage. The
aim of the booklet is to encourage people to
record these insects within our county as I
intend, in a few years' time, to publish a
distribution atlas, hopefully on a 1 km. square
discipline or at least on a Tetrad basis.
One thing the present publication graphically
illustrates is the serious lack of records from
the north west of the county, so it would be nice
to see hordes of people pouring into the Saffron
Walden and Thaxted areas of Essex this summer
with their Orthoptera atlas under their arms!
At present, I have all records on a 1 km. grid
reference system and so would welcome any
information on these insects on a four figure
O.S. grid reference please, together with date
found and any other relevant information. The