246 Professor Edward B. Poulton on the 



a very hot afternoon. This he very kindly did, and 

 although unsuccessful in this respect, he made many 

 interesting observations which I give in his own words : — 



''On the 4th September, 1895, I watched the courting 

 habits of some grasshoppers on the knoll immediately 

 behind the Weisshorn Hotel. 



" At first I made my observations on the west slope, 

 but there was a cool wind blowing, and the insects were 

 neither numerous nor lively. Casting about I discovered 

 on the south-east slope a particular hollow away from 

 the wind, in the full glare of the sun, and focussing the 

 heat-reflections from the hillock-slopes around it. Hei-e 

 the grasshoppers abounded and were very lively ; I 

 watched them for about two hours. 



" I noticed that the males, marked by swellings on 

 their first legs, were much more mobile than the females, 

 the latter were mostly extremely passive and had to be 

 chased and caught up by the males. There was a good 

 deal of this chasing which was very amusing to watch. 

 Sometimes the female, as if bothered, would remain 

 quiet for a time and allow the male to come up to her. 

 He appeared to stroke her with his antennge, but I could 

 not distinctly see what parts of her body he thus specially 

 caressed. The insects never seemed to leap unless 

 alarmed ; I thought that perhaps leaping was not an 

 ordinary mode of progression. I saw no male clasp or 

 leap upon any female ; they chased and chased, threw up 

 the game, started a fresh pursuit, equally bootless, and 

 so went on, tireless. I was not fortunate enough to see 

 any accouplement. When the male was alongside the 

 female, in many cases, the insect assumed a strained atti- 

 tude, the anterior part of the body being raised high, and 

 the terminal segments curved upwards so that the dorsal 

 line was concave antero-posteriorly. Very often a curious 

 little click was heard, I thought, usually as the chase 

 ended in the pair suddenly standing still by each other. 

 One might suppose that it was a chirp of triumph. I 

 have no doubt it was made by the male. 



" One rather curious situation in this active little 

 drama is worth noting. A female alighted or rather ran 

 up on ray boot and sat quite still in the hot rays of 

 the sun. She sat so still that the idea struck me I might 

 try to caress her a little myself. I accordingly looked 

 round for a slender flexible grass stem or dried haulm. 



