Plate XLII. fig. 3.
ORDER: Orthoptera. SECTION: Saltatoria. FAMILY: Gryllidæ.
GENUS. GRYLLUS (Locusta), _Latreille_. SUBGENUS: Gryllacris, _Serville_.
GRYLLUS (GRYLLACRIS) TESSELATUS. Fusco-fulvescens, alis diaphanis nigro
undique tesselatis. (Expans. elytr. 2 unc. 6 lin. Alar. 3 unc.)
SYN. Gryllus tesselatus, _Drury_, _App. vol_. 2.
Gryllacris maculicollis [male]? _Serville Revis. Orthopt. p_. 42.
HABITAT: Island of Johanna, near Madagascar.
General colour brownish yellow. Head smooth. Eyes rather prominent and
dark brown, with a whitish streak between them. Antennæ the length of the
insect. Mouth furnished with four palpi, knobbed at the extremities.
Thorax margined, and a little indented. Scutellum, which is not seen when
the wings are closed, whiteish and triangular. Tegmina thin, and full of
tendons. Wings nearly diaphanous, and prettily speckled with cross marks
in a zigzag manner. Legs strong; the hinder ones formed for leaping.
Tibiæ armed with spines, pointing downwards; those on the hinder ones
being shortest. Abdomen very singularly formed, the last segment
terminating in a kind of horny beak which curls inwards, but widens and
expands at the extremity, so as to appear like a knob or club; and close
above it, but on the upper part of the abdomen, are four filaments about
the size of the antennæ; two of them being longer than the other,
extending to the very extremity of this part. (See Fig. IV.)
The antennæ in this subgenus are of very great length, being many times
longer than the whole body. The specimen, therefore, figured by Drury was
evidently mutilated in these organs.