ORTHOPTERA 313 



their teeth to make a sibilant noise. They were prepared 

 for food by frying. My pet monkeys were also exces- 

 sively fond of them, and would eat them for as long as 

 they were offered, even until the overloaded stomach 

 rejected them. 



A ghoulish species of Ephippigeridde was a great 

 nuisance in my hut on Damba, as it found its way into 

 every box of food and quite replaced the kitchen cock- 

 roach as a pest. It has a rotund short body with im- 

 mensely long limbs and antennae, and is offensively 

 familiar ! It would come on to the table while I was 

 dining in the evening and stand with the filamentous 

 antennae waving in the air, and was so quick that I 

 could never catch it before it leapt away. As it 

 was a great nuisance I was glad to find that the egg 

 cases, like little portmanteaux, were attacked by a 

 Chalcid parasite, which laid its own eggs inside the case. 

 One such, when opened, was found packed with rows 

 and rows of the minute white pupae of the parasite, white, 

 with shining black eyes, looking for all the world like 

 neatly arranged mummies. The male of this species has 

 imperfect wings, and has not been heard to make a 

 noise. 



Another very large burrowing species during the rains 

 sits at the mouth of its burrow making a continuous 

 '* shrilling " noise which, if at all close, is quite un- 

 bearable, as it seems to make one's whole head vibrate 

 in sympathy. 



Another Locustid worthy of notice, of the same section, 

 is known to the natives as " Semukutu." It is disliked 

 very much by them, for they say it bites and makes sore 

 places, and often show sores which they say were caused 

 by a Semukutu. When handled this insect ejects with 

 some force from the side of the thorax a stream of 

 clear, yellow fluid with an acrid smell, but though I have 

 handled a large number in the endeavour to collect a 



