A NOTE ON DINARCHUS DASYPUS, ILLIGER. 145 
A Note on Dinarchus dasypus, Illiger. 
By Captain M. BURR, D.Sc., F.E.S. 
Dinarchus dasypus, and its near relatives of the genus Callimenus, 
are probably familiar to anyone who has ever glanced at a collection 
of European Orthoptera; their massive and ponderous build and 
bronze-black colour make them rank among the most striking of 
palearctic insects. But as the species are few, and their area of 
distribution restricted, there are not many entomologists who are 
familiar with them under natural conditions, or who have, indeed, 
seen a living specimen. 
Among the treeless hills round Salonika there are a number of 
little nullahs or gorges cut by streamlets through the soft marls and 
gravels of the slopes; in one of these little nullahs I heard a loud and 
persistent stridulation among a clump of very tall and extremely fierce 
thistles ; | was rather surprised to hear an obviously Locustine stridu- 
lation so early as May 31st, and succeeded in tracing it down to one 
particular thistle, but was not at the time able to follow the matter up 
any further. Four days later I revisited the spot in the’late afternoon, 
and heard the same song from the identical thistle. To my delight, I 
saw a fine male Dinarchus dasypus in fullsong. He was a splendid and 
uncommonly corpulent fellow; as I held him up by the thorax, he 
made but little attempt to wriggle free, and none at all to bite, although 
his jaws are big and powerful, but he protested by uttering a low 
swearing note and ejecting a shower of a yellow fluid, like the yoke of 
an egg, all over my hands; this means of defence was rather startling 
at first, but the fluid appeared to be innocuous, and odourless. At the 
game time he evacuated bulky dark green faeces, from which I was 
inclined to think he is entirely herbivorous. A little later I picked up 
a second male, crawling silently among the low herbage. 
I brought them to camp alive, as company for a female which had 
been brought me by a friend a day or two previously; one “ lantern, 
tent, folding ”’ made an excellent cage, being light, and ventilated, but 
although I had offered her grass and weeds, she declined to take 
nourishment, and when I introduced her mates, I was sorry to find 
that she had pined away and died of starvation. So as fodder for the 
males, an experiment was made with the thistle on which they had 
been found, and this was entirely successful; the larger male set to 
work at once and very quickly chewed right through the thick stalk, 
making short work of the sharp and hard spines; the smaller male 
sulked for some days, consequently the former enjoys better health and 
has a beautiful metallic bronze sheen while the latter is dull and 
listless. 
It was interesting to note the individual difference in character of 
these two males; unlike most other Locustids, they make no attempt 
to fight, in fact, they take little notice of each other, except to swear 
when the one falls down from a bending sprig of thistle on to the 
other one’s back. The corpuleat one is of a cheery disposition, keeping 
up a constant song all day and a great part of the night, when not 
busy eating, for he is a fine trencherman. He responds to any 
encouragement by a friendly chirrup, and often joins in the conversa- 
tion. The note is a sustained and rather high buzz, quite distinct 
Juty 15rx, 1916. 
