ConrtshijJ of certain I^urojJeun Acridiuhe. 239 



female by its movement, and they then leap with the 

 greatest accuracy F. Jenkinson obtained these results 

 by inducing captured females to leap from his hand in 

 the direction of a male. On one occasion ho saw a male 

 approach and leap upon another male, probably mistaking 

 it for a female ; there was a tussle, in which one appeared 

 to try to bite the other. It thus appeared evident that 

 there is no prelitninaiy courtship of any kind, but that 

 the male takes the female by surprise, and leaps upon her 

 before she is aware of his presence. This conclusion was 

 abundantly confirmed later on. 



September 3. — F. Jenkinson and I observed a pair on 

 the grassy slopes below the Bella Tola. The male had 

 lost one of the legs of the third pair, and the female had 

 one of them apparently injuret). The male was seated on 

 the back ot" the female, and v/as energetically attempting 

 to copulate much too far forward in the middle ventral line. 

 We watched his continual attempts for about fifteen 

 minutes, at the end of which period he was no nearer to 

 success than at the beginning. This failure, when the 

 female was evidently ready, and kept opening the gene- 

 rative oriBce, may have been due to the absence of the 

 leg. Although this limb is not used to hold firmly, the 

 absence of it may have afiected his balance. At any 

 rate no failure of this kind was seen on any other 

 occasion. 



Later on, about the middle of the day, we came to a 

 flat piece of ground covered with scanty grass, at the 

 bottom of the zigzags by which the Bella Tola is ascended. 

 The strong sun and the position of the ground made the 

 place extremely hot, and as both sexes of the Pezotettix 

 were very abundant^ it appeared a good opportunity for 

 observing the pairing habits. The males were often 

 seated on stones, or other slight eminences ; thus placed, 

 and with the head and anterior part of the body raised, 

 they were in a very favourable position to see and leap 

 upon any female which approached within three inches, 

 or sometimes even a greater distance. If the leap is a 

 failure, the male at once begins an active pursuit, leap- 

 ing more quickly and further than the female. In this 

 way it often happens that he loses sight of the latter, or, 

 is brought nearer to another female, whom he at once 

 attempts to captui-e. One main cause of failure in the 

 pursuit is that the male has very little, if any, power of 



