244, Professor Edward B. Poulton on the 
and this conclusion is supported by the fact that the 
females were often seen engaged in oviposition. 
Aueust 5l1.—Jenkinson and I watched several females 
ovipositing in the loose earth on avery hot slope just 
outside the hotel, and in the beds of the little Alpine 
garden. ‘The female thrusts her abdomen deeply into the 
earth and remains in this position for some minutes. On 
two occasions a female, after withdrawing her abdomen, 
was seen to rake the ground vigorously with her third 
legs, and, im one case, witnessed by Jenkinson, she 
steadied herself by holding a plant stem with her 
mandibles. We several times dug up the earth and 
searched for the eggs, but without success. At this date 
I found another pair of this species in coitu, on the path 
just below the hotel. 
Gomphocerus sibericus appears to be a very general 
feeder, and its extraordinary abundance in the immediate 
proximity of the hotel was probably due to the presence 
of horses’ and mules’ dung, and other refuse upon which 
they fed. Every patch of dung upon the path was 
surrounded by dozens of individuals. 
Auausr 31.—F. Jenkinson and I watched the males pur- 
suing the females near the hotel. It often happened that 
when a male came up to a female he extended the max- 
illary and labial palpi towards her, and raised himself on 
his legs in a very characteristic and remarkable attitude. 
At other times these movements occurred at a later stage 
of courtship. ‘The movement of the palpi stronely sug- 
gested their use as organs of sense. When the female 
ran away, as she generally did, the male pursued, always 
trying to get in front of the female and thus stop her. 
The male ran faster than the female, and altered his 
direction so as to approach the female almost at right 
angles to the course she was pursuing. After the pre- 
liminaries of courtship—pursuit, stridulation, attitude, 
and movement of the palpi—the male, standing beside 
and close to the female, tries to jump on her, making a 
curious short chirp as he does so. ‘lhe attempts were, 
however, always unsuccessful in the cases observed by us. 
Stridulation is in this species of definite length, and ends 
in two or three short chirps; in most cases the male then 
instantly approaches still nearer and tries to jump on the 
female with the short chirp already described. 
Neither Jenkinson nor I can remember the exact 
