GREEN GRASSHOPPERS (LOCUSTID&). 157 



attributing its extermination to the introduced Norway 

 rat. This giant species may measure over two and a 

 half inches in length, and when the hind legs and 

 antennae are stretched out, it may be more than fourteen 

 inches. Probably it subsists chiefly on the green leaves 

 of trees and shrubs ; Sir W. Duller remembers, in 

 riding between Mangakahia and Whangarei, having 

 caught a pair of Wetas on a low tree, where they 

 seemed to be feeding on the young leaves. Although 

 bulky and wingless, yet, as he tells us,* the insect 

 climbs with agility, and is sometimes found on the 

 topmost branches of lofty trees. When disturbed it 

 produces a clicking noise, accompanied by a slow move- 

 ment of the hind legs. " When taken it kicks or strikes 

 backwards with its long hind legs, which are armed 

 with double rows of sharp spurs ; and unless dexterously 

 seized will not fail to punish the offender's hand, the prick 

 of its spurs causing an unpleasant stinging sensation." 

 Killing them, so as not to injure the specimens, is 

 difficult ; and in one instance an attempt was made to 

 drown a specimen in cold water, but it was found, after 

 four days' immersion, as lively and active as ever. 



A smaller species, D. thoracica, lives in decayed 

 wood, into which it bores ; and a third, D. megacephala, 

 is characterized by a head and mandibles of exaggerated 

 size in the male. 



* Zoologist, 1867 ; Trans. N. Zeal. Inst., 1894, vol. xxvii. 



