178 THE entomologist's record. 



of the insect, for it is conceivable that so peculiar a species, with so 

 restricted a distribution, may be verging upon extinction, and I believe 

 it is a good many years since Don Anatael took a specimen ; the 

 season was correct, for we were there on September 22nd ; it was in 

 October that it was first taken. 



As we drove back to Tacoronte, the heat became oppressive, and 

 next morning a perfect gale was blowing, the " levante" or " tempo del 

 sur," which corresponds to the sirocco of the Mediterranean, a hot 

 wind blowing a fine red dust from the African desert, picking up 

 clouds of dirt and powder from the road, which penetrate everything, 

 and make life exceedingly disagreeable. I struggled in the teeth of 

 this hot wind, filling eyes, ears, nostrils and skin with dry brown dirt, 

 to the forest of Agua Garcia, where the Giant Heath grows to a height 

 of fifty feet, yet is dwarfed by the huge laurel trees, with roots of 

 terrific girth ; the forest was cut by glades and shady ravines, sheltered 

 from wind and sun, refreshed occasionally by a welcome spring of icy 

 water. Here I looked carefully, at Don Anatael's suggestion, especially 

 among the roots of the laurels, for Forficula guancharia, Heller, and 

 Holocompsa siwoni/i, Kr., both peculiar species, but found nothing 

 beyond a few specimens of flololampra bivittata, Kr., nymphs and females 

 only. On the outskirts of the wood, the usual species were abundant, 

 Epacromia thalassina, E. strepens, Calopteniis vulcanitis, Oedaleus 

 senegalensis, Platycleis f/risea, PI. tessellata, Decticiis albifronx, a few 

 Mantis reliijiosa, and Phaneroptera nana. 



Don Anatael had especially advised me to search the thickets of 

 " maljnrada," or St. John's Wort, for Orophila 7iubi(fena, Kr., but I never 

 saw a specimen. Sweeping produced, however, a number of locustine 

 nymphs, which I attributed to Calliphona, Kr. This determination 

 was verified soon by the capture of a fine female Calliphona hiJnif/i, Kr. 

 Calliphona is the local representative of the European genus Locvsta, 

 to which it is related. There are two species, C. kdnit/i, Kr., with 

 abbreviated elytra, corresponding to L. cajitnns, and (J. alluaudi, Bob, 

 corresponding to L. viridissima, L. They are handsome green insects, 

 of a large and more powerful build than the two Locusta referred to, 

 resembling rather the East European L. candata. While searching 

 diligently in the scrub and grass, I caught a pair of Ariagona 

 marj/aritae, Kr., an apterous Decticid, allied to Anterastes, Brunner, 

 and Olynthoscelis, Fieb. The genus is confined to the islands, and 

 appears to be rare. Simony took it in the island of Hierro, and Krauss 

 in Tenerife, but Don Anatael did not seem to have come across it. 



I was still looking for a male Calliphona, and listening intently to 

 all the stridulation around, detected nothing but the intermittent 

 buzz of Dectictis albifrons on all sides, when suddenly my ears were 

 delighted by a loud and persistent shrill, like that of Locuftta, but 

 higher pitched, almost a whistle. I felr, certain it must be a Calliphona, 

 and stalked it down with patience, till I was rewarded by seeing a fine 

 male C. kdnii/i sitting on a St. John's Wort, looking like a great green 

 Ephippiciera. 



Thus my luck had turned, and though I had failed to find any one 

 of the peculiar earwigs that I specially hunted for, nor Hi/sicori/pha, 

 nor Blepharis, the local lesii-Mantin, nor Orophila, I had in the last few 

 minutes* collecting in the islands come across two of the most 

 interesting Locustids of this fascinating fauna. 



{To be concluded). 



