144 



The Naturalist. 



remarkable or attractive neiiropterous insects of Southern Africa were 

 popularised long ago, and very few amateur collectors reach home un- 

 represented with a formidable ant-lion or dragon-fly. Libellula of all 

 sizes and colours abound, not only near the banks of streams and 

 rivers, but on upland flats in time of drought, when a glimpse of half- 

 a-pint of water, fresh or stagnant, would seem a miracle. We have 

 also innumerable species of Phryganidce, whose architectural skill is 

 never at a nonplus, and I possess a few gnat-like creatures yet undeter- 

 mined. But to conclude my brief sketch of impressionable insect- 

 ography without an allusion to our wonderful termites, even at the risk 

 of desecrating Mr. Smeathman's sanctum, I am powerless. The world 

 is fond of change. Fashion propels animation — animation, fashion. 

 Any sort of a social lion will answer the purpose i/'.that lion becomes 

 popular. When Londoners are really hard-pressed for a novelty, 

 let them bribe authorities at the Zoo to import a shipment of 

 termite ant-hills. Provided all goes well I guarantee a splendid hit 

 if an evacuation can be managed at the approach of sightseers. I 

 have seen one flight of termites, and I count that moment one of the 

 happiest in my life. They came not in myriads but in unceasing 

 streams. 



They fell to earth I know not where." 



Mr. J. Martin, of Swansea, a recent visitor to this country, stayed 

 for some time near the Katberg, and had ample opportunity of 

 watching their habits. I received several specimens by post, they had 

 dropped their wings in transit, excepting one which retained the left 

 posterior until its death. He told me that when he plunged his stick 

 into some of their abodes, he found them ready for swarming. A few 

 months ago I visited the farm of a friend near Maitland Mines. 

 Arriving early in the morning, I discovered many termites on the 

 ground and in the river, and numbers of birds snapping them up with 

 avidity. Whilst we were breakfasting a gentleman remarked that 

 within a couple of hours of their appearance he could not find a 

 solitary specimen. This was not entirely my own experience, but 

 almost. Mr. Martin made some most valuable notes on the habits of 

 termites, and I should be glad to read them in due course in the pages 

 of the Naturalist. 



We do not derive serious inconvenience from white ants in this 

 immediate district ; but they are a complete pest in some parts of the 

 country. L'hermite de Winterhoek writes me as follows : — " The only 

 extraordinary symptom of activity which I have observed lately, was 



