22 The South AiLstralian Naturalist. 



can do some quite rough work with it. When the time comes 

 to arrange for her future family, she walks over the soil as if 

 to decide on a place suitably soft. When satisfied on that point 

 she goes to work with a will, and the short thick ovipositor 

 answers the purpose both of a pick and a shovel. When the 

 hole is about half or three parts of an inch deep she ceases 

 digging, and the ovipositor is pushed down at the bottom of 

 the hole into the soil up to its base. The abdomen is curled 

 forv/ard like a bee about to sting, and when the laying is 

 finished she fills in the hole carefully with the ovipositor. The 

 clavv'S are not once used in this all-important work. She then 

 dusts and cleanses herself, and turns her back on the late scene 

 of her labours. The ovipositor of this species is also divided 

 from the tip to the base. 



The tree locusts' wungs are really wrapped over the 

 abdomen from one side to the other. In the day-flying locusts, 

 when the wings are folded, there is always a division line on 

 top where the v/ings meet. But not so in the night-flying 

 species ; they have no division line down the middle of the back 

 when the wings are folded. I should think having the wings 

 thus wrapped around the body would be an advantage to these 

 creatures, because as they spend a lot of their time hidden away 

 in holes, cracks in wood, or under bark, the wings v/ould be 

 likely to get damaged if otherwise arranged. They are not 

 careless about their appearance ; they attach themselves to the 

 wire of the cage with the hopper clav/s and hang head down- 

 wards. With the disengaged clav/s, the wings, first one side 

 and then the other, are brought forward and unfurled. The 

 cleaning then begins. The mouth is carefully worked over the 

 surface of the wings, and when finished they are folded back 

 into place again. The antennae are the next to receive atten- 

 tion : with one of the front claws one is placed in the mouth, 

 while the mouth moves quickly but carefully, and it is gently 

 drawn through right to the end^ Tiie feet also receive careful 

 attention. 



I was not fortunate enough to learn anything about the 

 mating; but one night, between 11 and 12 p.m. I discovered a 

 huge female sitting on a piece of wood eating something un- 

 usual. I gripped her firmly across the back and took her out of 

 the cage to examine more closely. It was a soft whitish grey 

 mushy substance, about the size of a small pea, and had the 

 appearance of having been dipped in water. A little of the 

 same stuff was also at base of ovipositor. I tried to take it from 

 her, but she held on firmly and defended it with her claws. I 



