626 Transactions South. African Philosophical Society, [vol. xii. 



lon^" hind legs emerging from the pistils of a composite flower where 

 they are mobbing a female which is almost entirely buried head 

 foremost in the pistils, the sub-horizontal pygidium alone being 

 exposed to view. But it is when disentangling themselves that the 

 use of the long hind legs becomes apparent ; by means of his long, 

 hinged claw the male hooks himself out of the corolla. It is not 

 only amongst the flower-frequenting kinds that this extraordinary 

 development of the hind legs with their curiously serrate, dentate, 

 and mucronate tibiaB is met with, because the species of Hoplocncmis, 

 in which this development has become almost a monstrosity, do not 

 feed on flowers, or at least have not been obsen'ed doing so. Their 

 habits seem to be more those of certain Dynastin^, and I suspect 

 them to live, while in the larval state, in the excrement deposits of 

 the subterranean white ant, Hodotervics viator, Latr. 



In the Scelophysides this great development of the hind limbs is 

 less common. Certain kinds of Monochelus seem to be met w'ith 

 on grasses. The males of one of the largest kind, M. spinipcs, are 

 found in the western part of the Cape Colony flying in fields of 

 young oats or corn, and they seldom settle on flowers ; the females 

 are seldom seen. Mr. H. Fry informs me that he captured the 

 not less large species M. natalcnsis on oat-sheaves carted from the 

 field in the Umvoti County in Natal. Most of the species of this 

 group are, however, flower-loving insects, except perhaps Idiiti/na 

 collaris and its close ally, PlatycJiclus hoplioides, which I never 

 found but on the gi'ound. All the species of Platychclus are very 

 hairy, and although living undoubtedly at the expense of the flower 

 they are certainly excellent instruments for its fertilisation. In one 

 genus {Outeniqua) the male of the only species known has the hind 

 legs as much swollen as a Pachycncma. 



The true Hojylides are less numerous in kind and in number. 

 They are more closely allied to the Madagascar representatives of 

 the group than to the palaearctic ones, for instance, and while some 

 are diurnal in their habits, others are probably crepuscular or come 

 out in the open when the sky is overcast [Blikana, Harpintty 

 Coiigella) ; Microplus and Rahula are known to be crepuscular. 



The distribution of the Hopliin.k in South Africa is very 

 interesting. Being entirely dependent on flowers for their sub- 

 sistence, they appear suddenly after the rains have set in, and 

 disappear as quickly. This is best exemplified in the Cape Colon)', 

 where there is a narrow strip of country from long. 24^^ E. along 

 the south coast, bounded on the north by the Langebergen, and con- 

 tinuing northwards along the west coast, with the Drakenstein, the 

 OUfants River Mountains, the Cedearbergen and Khamiesbergen as 



