NOTES ON COLLECTING. 141 
well developed in Southern Macedonia, and the would be collector who 
happens to be in the Salonika force realises that he is in a most in- 
teresting district, and one of the least worked in Europe, yet he is lucky 
if he sometimes gets a chance of capturing something worth having. 
At the same time the unusual surroundings have provoked a praise- 
worthy spirit of enquiry in a number both of officers and men. One 
enthusiastic member of the R.A.M.C. has formed quite a museum ; 
what first attracted him were the antics of a very young H’mpusa which 
he chanced to see while picking a wild flower. The adult is one of the 
oddest of Mantids, but the larva is really the quaintest little creature 
imaginable; its tiny head, with prominent eyes and a pronged spikelet 
in front, its very slender, long neck, and its spidery, lobed legs are con- 
trasted by the almost circular, flat abdomen, which is tucked impu- 
dently upwards like a wren’s tail. This little creature lived in captivity 
for a week or more, but did not grow, because its master thought one 
fly a day would be ample diet for such a little fellow; but he could 
probably have managed several times his own weight of flies in a day ; 
the prisoner died in captivity. 
The most general pets, however, are tortoises (Testudo graeca), and 
most camps have a tortoise compound; it is reported that in one air-raid 
a bomb fell through a bell-tent ; luckily the owner was out at the time, 
but his pet tortoise was killed. But as tortoises are not insects, in spite 
of the dictum of Frank Buckland’s famous ticket collector, we must 
return to entomology. 
Acridium aeyyptium is pretty common, as indeed, along all the shores 
of the Mediterranean. One officer, who had been employed on a locust 
campaign in Heypt, was quite interested when he saw it, but this species 
has never been known, I believe, to swarm or do material damage. 
Few British laymen know really what a locust is, and often apply the 
term to centipedes, or any unfamiliar creature that crawls, so A. aeqyp- 
tium is a good object lesson to them. But he is not a very exciting 
pet, and does not show much originality of character. 
Two other Acridians are common enough, but do not attract much 
attention ; these are Hpacromia strepens, Fabr.; I saw the first one on 
a warm sunny day early in January; now they are numerous; of course 
these are hibernated specimens, like Acrotylus satruelis, Sturm., which 
is quite common; the flash of his crimson wings being a frequent sight 
on the hillsides. 
The obtrusive Caloptenus italicus, L., has not shown up yet, perhaps 
he does not hibernate in this district. 
The mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa, L.), is quite common ; 
his peculiar appearance attracts a deal of attention when he is dug out, 
which, in fact, is usually in a dug-out; his churr-churr is audible on 
most warm evenings. 
There is another cricket on the plains here which I have not suc- 
ceeded in running down, in spite of great patience and numerous 
attempts ; he has a peculiarly musical flute-like whistle, but is ex- 
tremely shy; he only strikes up at sundown, and so there is scarcely 
half an hour in the day when he can be hunted for with any hope of 
success. From the tone, I think he is a Gryllodes, whose acquaintance 
I have made in Transcaucasia, but it is impossible to say what species. 
The common field cricket (Liogryllus campestris, L.), is often heard 
when riding round the country, but rarely seen. 
