Bairstow . Natural History Notes from South Africa. 97 



equalled by Dip-terror. Vale mosquitoes ! Yale house-flies ! Ye 

 cannot prove malicious. It is too late, my friends : the winter draweth 

 nigh ! 



My researches among the Orthoptera in schoolboy's happy home 

 were decidedly acute, if somewhat exclusive. They were nearly 

 confined to the house cricket and cockroach, I never progressed much 

 with No. 1 ; superstition, dread of ill luck, barred the way, and I 

 studied economy at long ranges. But No. 2 was most ardently 

 pursued. It is not unlikely that the flattened intestines of slippered 

 Blattas are this day adhering to certain wall-papers in a certain home- 

 stead. An itinerant vermin-killer, quite expert in the noble art of 

 catching cockroaches and killing them against the palms of his hands, 

 was wont to pay periodical calls at our house for purposes of pest 

 extermination. Unfortunately he fell in love with the kitchen-maid — 

 a damsel of forty-five years — who rejected him, after mature delibera- 

 tion. He wooed, popped, and lost, notwithstanding a fair bank 

 balance to his credit, and increasing trade returns. Moral : cock- 

 roaches were evidently fairly prolific to remunerate a hawking 

 executioner. However Mr. Smouser dropped visiting us, and my 

 researches continued. Now in this country (0 blissful fact !) although 

 I am minus 2 re Diptera, I am plus 1 re Orthoptera. I am not bothered 

 by cockroaches, and a solitary house cricket — bless his pertinacious 

 windpipe !-— does duty for a pet canary. Apparently the crickets in 

 South Africa domineer over cockroaches as domestic pets. This is 

 easily explained (1) because we have a scarcity of ancient tenements ; 

 (2) cement and plaster are in great demand for building material, and 

 crickets are partial to semi-damp abodes. But I conceive it is with 

 insects as 'tis with Kafirs — civilization means demoralization. My 

 sweet songster becomes a bore. He takes advantage of board and 

 lodging. I concede the kitchen to him — he adopts the sitting-room. 

 Briefly, he waxes fat and impudent. Kindness kills good manners. 

 A Kafir of Kaffraria is a noble animal ; a cricket of the Veldt is a fine 

 old fellow. 



Walking in the land of Orthoptera, or Screechdom, will amply 

 repay an observant tourist. The air reverberates in stridulatory 

 music, and beneath each stone there lies concealed a patron cockroach 

 or protean relative. It may be caprice which suggests to my mind the 

 thought that insects replace our birds as songsters ; and granting their 

 melodies are a trifle monotonous, they are welcome neighbours, and I 

 bear them no ill-will. Of Gursoria the Mantida are most interesting, 

 whilst the largest species are most commonly met with. Nothing can 



