92
THE ORTHOPTERA OF S U F F O L K .
T H E ORTHOPTERA OF SUFFOLK. SUCH large and handsome insects as the Locusts, Grasshoppers, Crickets, and to a less extent the Cockroaches and Earwigs, are consequently conspicuous objects wherever they occur. Everybody knows them by sight; yet, strangely enough, no comprehensive account of our comital ones has ever been printed beyond that of the 1911 Victoria History. Since then the nomenclature has been amended, more local kinds have been noted, and two species deleted from the British List, which now stands at but thirty-eight (Lucas' Monograph of Brit. Orthoptera, Ray Soc. 1920 ; revised at Entomologist 1927, p. 276, omitting Staurodems vagans, Ever., of E.MM. 1922, p. 211). All but ten of these have been discovered in Suffolk ; and the remainder are so very locally distributed in England as to be unlikely to occur with us here. Besides the natives or naturalised species, we can incorporate three casual visitants or those imported in foreign produce, which raise the Suffolk Orthoptera to thirty-one different kinds. Especial attention needhere be directed to nothing but the fluctuating Locust plagues of 1842-76 in England. That there was a probability of very serious local destruction in 1857, Dr. Bree's footnote indicates : the colonial report for the State of Swaziland in 1908-9 alots some two hundred pounds to the diminution of this pest (for more cf. Dr. ZEneas Munro's 1899 ' Locust Plague and its Suppression,' of no less then 357 pages !). DĂźring these thirty-four years, Locusts certainly appeared in our county with considerably greater frequency than the following meagre accounts represent: unfortunately amplification appears lost beyond recovery now. Nevertheless, there has been no lack of Suffolk observers among Orthoptera in general during the past Century ; and we may enumerate in roughly chronological sequence : the Revd. William Kirby, F.R.S., and his occasional visitor at Barham, J . F. Stephens, F.L.S. : the Pagets' 1834 ' Natural History of Great Yarmouth ' : the late W. H. Baker of Battisford and in 1908 of The Meadlands, Combs, and his father ; Edward Saunders, F.R.S., of Woking in Surrey, the Revd. E. N. Bloomfield, M.A., F.E.S., of Guestling in Sussex, and W. H. Tuck, M.A., of Tostock ; along with E. A. Elliott, Claude Morley, E. W. Platten, Bernard Harwood, Dr. Vinter, Chester G. Doughty and K. G. Blair, present Members of the Society, by whom the following List is compiled. FORFICULIDAE
(DERMAPTERA).
Labia minor, Linn. The Small Earwig.—Widely distributed but rarely common ; nearly always captured while Aying. Yarmouth, occasionally (Paget). Corton, North Cove,
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Tuddenham Fen, Claydon bridge, Walton, Wickham Market, Framlingham in urinal, Bentley swept from nettles, Blakenham in flood-refuse by the River Gipping ; and not rare at Monks' Soham, Aying over the lawns shortly before dusk, apparently from the adjacent farmyard and sometimes commonly, from May to September. Forficula auricularia, Linn. Common Earwig.—Abundant everywhere in rural districts and often Aying to the light of street-lamps in towns, extending from Yarmouth (Paget) to Haverhill and under stones at Tuddenham in the Breck to Foxhall on ragwort Aowers. Var. forcipata, Steph., is hardly rarer than the typical form ; Yarmouth sandhills (Paget), etc. F. Lesnei, Fin. Hairy Earwig.—Extremely rare : a Single male in a sand-pit at Gisleham on 22nd September, 1922 (Morley). Apterygida albipennis, Meg.—Local but not rare about Sudbury, where it is found in three places by Bernard Harwood (Entom. 1916, p. 59 and 1924, p. 153) ; very rare elsewhere, as at Corton, several swept from Tanacetum in September, 1925 (Blair), and both sexes swept in Westleton lamb-pits from herbage on 19th September, 1912 (Morley). BLATTIDAE.
Ectobius Panzeri, Steph. Small Cockroach.—Confmed to the coast, and there much rarer than in south of England. One dark specimen is labelled " Rev. W. Kirby, lapponica " (Ent. Ree. 1900, p. 98 ; cf. Introd. Ent., ed. vii, 133). One at Lowestoft in August 1891 (Saunders) ; many immature on sandhüls at Corton, Thorpe and Felixstow in June and July ; imagines fairly common among marram grass on Gunton sandhills in August 1898 et seqq. (Morley). Blattella Germanica, Linn.—A colony established itself in the Golden Lion Hotel in Ipswich in the course of September 1904 ; still there in 1908, but is now gone (Elliott). Blatta orientalis, Linn. Common Cockroach.—Quite unknown outside the larger towns ; Yarmouth, in most houses (Paget) ; Ipswich, too common (Platten) ; Bury, and in bee-hives there in both May and July 1904 (Tuck). [The sole time I have taken this insect out of doors was on l l t h January, 1896, when two females were hibernating under elm bark in a marsh near Ewell in Surrey ; there was one cottage about a hundred yards away, but no house in the vicinity (Morley). Our Cockroach is a native of tropical Asia ; and was not introduced on ship-board to Europe tili it was brought in by Dutch and English traders to Antwerp and London, at the earliest towards the end of
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THE ORTHOPTERA OF SUFFOLK.
the sixteenth Century (Butler's Household Insects, 117). Hence we must deny Kingsley their presence in 1588 aboard his Vengeance in ' Westward Ho,' cap. xxxii; and, with less assurance, Stevenson about 1750 aboard his Hispaniola in ' Treasure Island,' cap. xxix.] Periplaneta Australasiae, Fab.—Occasionally, i.e. I have a halfdozen examples taken on e.g. 9th September, 1901, imported to Ipswich in Linseed, etc. (Morley). Leucophaea Surinamensis, Linn.—A single male found among Bananas, imported into Gorleston, 15th September, 1923 (Doughty). [.Panchlora rivea, Linn.—An exotic bright-green Cockroach, of which two imagines and two of the pilose and brown nymphs have been found with the last species among Bananas in Gorleston fruiterers' shops during August, September and November, 1922-5 (Doughty ; teste C.M.) ; clinging to one nvmph was an Acarid mite, of the genus Gamasus. Another imago, sent me for determination by the Bury Museum, was taken in that city during 1914 (Morley). One male discovered among Bananas in Needham Market during October, 1930 (Platten).] GRYLLIDAE.
Gryllotalpa vulgaris, Latr. Mole Cricket.—Doubtless extinct. Southwold (Wake's Southwold 1839, p. 244). One captured near Stowmarket before 1858, in coli. Baker 1908 (Local Paper, 18th Nov. 1908) ; several dug at Boyton near Orford and Chevington near Bury (Chas. E. B. Johnson, loc. cit. 18th Nov., 1908 : probably misidentified). Tuck knew four specimens, all lackingdata :—1. in the Steggall collection at Stow Langtoft Hall library ; 2. in that of a Bury lawyer, Mr. Cambridge, sold in 1892 and containing also a Large Copper Butterfly, P. dispar, Haw. ; 3. in Mr. Fonnereau's collection at Christchurch in Ipswich, which contained many foreign insects ; and 4. ' when I lived at Rishangles in 1858, the Revd. Ellis Walford used to take the Mole Cricket in his Dallinghoo garden, where it damaged his young lettuces ; he gave specimens to Dr. Bree of Stowmarket [cp. Baker, supra], Another curious thing he took at Dallinghoo was the Land Leech, Trocheta viridis ' (Tuck, in lit. 15th July, 1913). [Ickleton in Cambs. (Kirby, Introd. ed. vii, 510) ; Caister in Norfolk (Paget).] Gryllus campesiris, Linn. Field Cricket.—Taken by me in the neighbourhood of Tostock (Tuck, v.v. May 1907). Needs confirmation. G. domesticus, Linn. House Cricket.—Only in towns. Very common in some Yarmouth bake-houses (Paget). In
THE ORTHOPTERA
OF
SUFFOLK.
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Ipswich houses during August 1894 and September 1901 ; often heard chirping in bake-houses there, though but rarely seem (Morley). LOCUSTIDAE
: Long-horned Grass-hoppers.
Pholidoptera griseaptera, DeG.—Generally distributed over the County, and not uncommon. Lound Wood (Pagets' Acrida aptera). Sudbury (Entom. 1924, p. 153). Bungay Common, in July (Tuck). Holton St. Peter ; Brandeston ; Ashfield ; Monks' Soham, sometimes in the house and probably attracted by light; Wherstead, Copdock and frequently on lepidopterists' sugar in Bentley Woods during August and September (Morley). Phasgonura viridissima, Linn.—Very local, but sometimes not uncommon on the banks of the Gipping ; one actually eating Angelica sylvestris at Claydon there on lOth September 1898 (Morley). Assington (in coli. Keeper Wheel, teste CM.). Several at Bury in September 1902 (Tuck). A female near Felixstow on 20th September 1914 (Gurney, Entom. 1914, p. 301.). [.Diestrammena marmorata, Haan.—One male of this species, imported from Japan, was captured at Newmarket in August 1912 and sent by Prof. Newstead for determination to the British Museum.] Conocephalus dorsalis, Latr. Marsh Grass-hopper.—On reeds, in our fens and broads only. Tuddenham Fen, August 1902 ; Herringswell Fen, "August 1906 ; Judes bridge, Mildenhall, 1922. Common in Barnby Broad on Angelica, August 1898 ; and as larvae there in July 1900 ; Covehithe Broad, 1907 ; Benacre Broad, 1898 ; Blythburgh marshes, 1914 (Morley). Southwold in July 1896 (Bloomfield). Meconema thalassinum, DeG. Tree Grass-hopper.—Frequent on bushes and trees from late July to lOth November, often on lepidopterists'sugar. Tostock in 1899 (Tuck). Assington in 1915 (Harwood) and Sudbury (Entom. 1924, p. 153). Beaten from ash at Reydon, 1910 ; in sandpit at Gisleham, 1923 ; on sugar by the Gipping at Ipswich, 1895 ; and there common in Bentley Woods, 1894-8 (Morley). Leptophyes pundatissima, Bosc.—Frequent on low herbage throughout the County, from 21st May to 15th September. Staverton Thicks (Vinter). Farnham, Dennington, Monks' Soham ; Assington Thicks, Bramford marshes, Bentley Woods and Felixstow, etc. (Morley).
i]
I
i
Iii
A C R I D I I D A E : Short-horned Grass-hoppers. Tetrix subulatus, Linn.—Confined to the fens, and there much more spasmodic and local than in the Cambs. ones.
JU
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THE ORTHOPTERA OF SUFFOLK.
Several specimens swept from dwarf willow in Tuddenham Fen on 12th June 1900, but not again seen there tili 21st June 1909 when three were swept from reeds at noon (EUiott). Three or four swept at dusk in marshes by Brandon staunch wood on 30th August 1921 ; abundantly swept at the same spot on 22nd May 1922 ; but not since seen in the County (Morley). T. bipunctatus, Linn.—Abundant in the driest situations throughout the County. Yarmouth (Pagets Acrydium bipunctatum) ; Lakenheath, Brandon, Wangford ; Barnby, Southwold ; Assington Thicks ; Woodbridge, Martlesham Heath, Dodnash Wood, Bentley Woods, etc., sometimes Aying in the sunshine, as on 27th May 1900 and 3rd y Mav 1902 (Morley). Gomphocerus rufus, Linn.—Certainly local, but much passed over for the next species. I found it to be common on a heath at Potters bridge near Southwold on 23rd September 1920 ; and have swept it on the Poors Heath in west Tuddenham on 27th Augusf 1906 and 6th August 1913 (Morley). G. maculatus, Thumb.—Abundant everywhere in arid situations Dunwich (Blair, Entom 1929, p. 266) ; Southwold, South Cove, Kessingland,Corton sandhills; Lakenheath, Brandon, Tuddenham ; Staverton, Foxhall, etc. (Morley). [Devils Ditch in Cambs., near Newmarket.—Ent. Ree. 1900, p.98.] Mecostethus grossus, Linn.—Extinct, though several times recorded from Norfolk. Most probably Paget's " Locusta ßavipes, Beiton Bog, common" refers to the present species, which has not been noticed in Suffolk later. [.Pachytylus cinerascens, Fab. The Locust.—This is the inse usually collectively termed Locusta migratoria ; it is a mere visitant to Britain. " The neighbourhood of Yarmouth, the coasts of Suffolk " (Steph. Blust, vi, 20). One taken at Ipswich in 1850 (in Ipsw. Mus. : cf. Trans. Suff. Nat. Soc. i, p. 26) ; and near Stowmarket in 1857 (Ent. Week. Intelligencer ii, 1857, p. 173*). In the Dale coli, at Oxford are both sexes from ' Yarmouth 1847, Mr. Farr ; ' and two females from ' Harleston, Norfolk, 1897 ' (EMM. 1925, p. 250). A green speeimen, fully four inches in length [sie!], was caught some years ago by me on the Southwold cliff (Revd. Henry Groome, B.A., v.v. 1915). *" A speeimen of the European locust (Gryllus migratorius) was brought to me this evening : it was caught in the harvestfieldnear here. It is some years since I have seen this insect, and let us hope it will never attain to the dignity of a place in our British Fauna. I should advise all who take them to destroy without merey.—C. R. Bree, Stricklands, Stowmarket ; Aug. 22." Dr. Bree was of Wickham Market three years later (sec. Ent. Wk. Int. vii, 1860, p. 210). In 1844 Charles Robert Bree had been a surgeon of Backs Hall in Stowmarket (White).
THE ORTHOPTERA OF SUFFOLK.
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Stenobothrus lineatus, Panz.—Extremely rare, but possibly mixed with the following kinds. I have taken it at only the Westleton lamb-pits on 2nd September, 1911, and Martlesham Heath on 5th August, 1926 (Morley). Omocestus rufipes, Zett.—Apparently not common. Lowestoft and Barnby Broad in 1898 ; singly in Bentley and Dodnash Woods (Morley). 0. viridulus, Linn.—Dunwich in September (Blair, Entom. 1929, p. 267). Southwold in August and September ; both sexes common in Barnby Broad, and in June 1892 not rare in Beccles marshes; Tuddenham Fen in June 1901 (Morley). Stauroderus bicolor, Charp.—Dun wich in September (Blair, Entom. 1929, p. 267). Abundant in every hedge-row throughout the County. One was sitting on a first-storey window-sill at Southwold on l l t h August, 1900 ; and two males, chirping in an unusually low note, were crawling round a female sitting on a sandy bank at Foxhall on 18th September, 1902 (Morley). Chorthippus elegans, Entom. 1929, p. field). Not rare Tuddenham Fen,
Charp.—Dunwich in September (Blair, 267). Southwold in July, 1896 (Bloomin north Suffolk, from Burgh Castle to but not hitherto noted in south of County.
C. parallelus, Zett.—Very common. Tostock (Tuck) ; Ipswich, Southwold, Easton Broad, Covehithe Broad, Lowestoft denes, Tuddenham Fen, Eriswell, Beccles, Oulton Broad.
MELANIC PEPPERED M O T H S . — A female Amphidasys betularia, Linn., was placed by me on 16th June in a small round gauze cage, such as is used for catching wasps and flies, and hung up in my garden. The evening was warm and cloudy, with a slight breeze from the west. In the course of an hour, 9.30 to 10.30 [Scientists do not recognise the silly " S u m m e r Time."—ED.], ten males put in an appearance. Of these only one was typical; eight, i.e. eighty per centum, were more or less distinctly referrable to the ab. Doubledayaria ; and one was of intermediate colouration. Such would suggest that the dark forms are becoming commoner than, if not entirely superceding, the typical one.—A. P. WALLER.