PHASES OF NATURE AROUND PRETORIA. 47 



in the morning scarcely a sign of wet was to be seen. 

 It was not till October 4th that the rainy season really 

 commenced. All day the weather had been close and 

 oppressive, and those who suffered from weak chests 

 had found much inconvenience. In the afternoon 

 occurred our first Dust-storm, and that of unusual 

 severity. No rain had fallen for five months, and the 

 consequent accumulation of dust in the town and on 

 the neighbouring roads can be easily imagined. It was 

 under these circumstances that a heavy south-westerly 

 gale broke upon us, and a vast and majestic cloud of 

 tons of dust and small stones rose high in the air, and 

 rapidly reaching the centre of Pretoria, soon cleared the 

 streets both of passenger and vehicular traffic*. Rain 

 fell for about an hour, vivid lightning subsequently 

 illumined a particularly dark night, and nature pro- 

 claimed that the long-continued drought was broken 

 up. 



It was on the day following this storm that I visited 

 some rocky debris lying under an acacia-tree on the 

 open veld. To my surprise I found under these stones 

 thousands of two small species of beetles (Itutelidce) 

 belonging to the genus Adoretus (A. luteipes and an 

 unidentified sp.), in a perfectly dormant condition, 

 though the light and warmth of the sun soon aroused 

 them, and they made for fresh shelter. Three weeks 

 previously, and again a week later, I examined this spot 

 and turned over the same stones, but the beetles were 

 on both of these occasions only represented by a few 

 specimens, and not by the prodigious quantities which 

 I have described. It appears that this vast aggrega- 

 tion was preparatory to their segregation and dispersal 

 over the surrounding area, as subsequently during the 

 evenings these Adoreti, like moths, flew into rooms, 

 attracted by the light. 



Showers of rain fell on the days that immediately 

 succeeded the storm, and the wind shifting to the east 

 blew a gale and w r as bitterly cold. In the evening the 



* In Johannesburg houses were unroofed. 



