xxxll Proceedings of the South African Philosophical Society. 
which, so long as they do not move, are hardly distinguishable 
from the ground on which they squat at full length. If alarmed, 
however, they display in their short, very jerky flight most gorgeous 
pink, crimson, cerulean, yellow, or partly black under-wings. Such 
brilhant display should not be attributed to love-making, for it 
is not, as in birds, connected with a more sumptuous livery in the 
male. The brilliant colour of the lower wings, which is hidden by 
the upper ones when the insect is at rest, is nearly the same in both 
sexes. Incredible as it may seem, the sudden flash of these gorgeous 
colours in connection with the jerky flight of the insect is a most 
perfect method of baffling a pursuing enemy. 
I have no reason to believe that these insects are unpalatable and 
that the colour of the under-wings is a warning colour, because the 
South African orthopterous insects which display warning colours do 
not assimilate to their surroundings, whereas resemblance to the soil 
can hardly be carried further than in the case of these crickets. 
Even in an extremely small area, where the ground varies in tint, a 
' similar variation is noticeable in insects found only a few yards 
apart. Such colour is very delicate, and often fades after death. 
I may also mention that, in spite of frequent attempts, I have never 
succeeded in driving the lighter-coloured species to the darker- 
coloured soil and keeping them there in order to find out if their 
colour could be affected by the new surroundings. If I returned to 
the spot either an hour or a day after, the hue of the insects I met 
corresponded to the colour of the ground on which I found them. 
It is, however, not unreasonable to suppose that the insects I had 
driven there had most probably gone back to their first haunt. 
Peculiar to South Africa are the extraordinary genera Batrachorns, 
Batrachotettix, and Methone. Difficult to surpass as are those I have 
already mentioned for harmonising with their resting or hiding-places,, 
nevertheless they must give place to these so-called toad-locusts. 
Some of them, as Methone, are as much as 3 inches long and 2 inches 
wide; but, in spite of this bulk, they assimilate so well with the soil 
that they are invisible, even to the experienced eye, so long as they do 
not move, and this they very seldom do in the daytime. Of some 
species both sexes are winged, of others the male only, while of 
others both sexes are wingless. Even the winged individuals have: 
a very limited power of flight. 
This limitation of flying power, reduction or total abortion of the 
wings would seem to imply that, owing to favourable conditions. 
obtaining in the part of the country where these insects are found, 
the protective resemblance to surroundings is to be still enhanced by 
the elimination of the organs of flight to add to the illusion. The 
