Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/288

256 continent I had vainly tried, under glass and with heat, to cultivate the large and unsightly bulb. I succeeded in producing magnificent leaves, finer than those I subsequently saw under natural conditions, but I could never induce bloom. My failure was probably due to horticultural ignorance, as success is possible; but it emphasises the fact of the mystery of environmental conditions—all so simple and apparent in nature, so intricate under artificial arrangements. Another plant which may be found here, Sesamopteris pentaphylla, and which is not uncommon, possesses now a more general biological interest. Dr. Gregory, in his interesting book 'The Great Rift Valley,' has described and figured as a probable case of "mimicry" a number of the homopterous insect Ityræa nigrocincta, which in British East Africa clustered on a stem, and thus resembled the inflorescence of this plant. I have not, however, found the insect in the Transvaal, where the plant is anything but scarce; but I have seen many similar instances of other insects drying themselves in like manner and clusters after heavy rain, notably on one occasion by the Centoniid beetle Diplognatha hebræa, where certainly no "mimicry" was implied. The entomological circumstance is not unusual, but seldom, I think, so effective for suggesting "mimicry" as seen by Dr. Gregory.

In August, the height of the dry season, I have collected many birds in this neighbourhood. As soon as the bush is reached one is not long noticing the Drongo (Buchanga assimilis), a bird I never saw near Pretoria, but which is abundant in the bush and generally seen singly. I found the Drongo nesting in November. Small noisy flocks of long-tailed Shrikes (Urolestes melanoleucus) frequent the sides of the forest road. They perch high; and their long tails would probably be an inconvenience if they frequented the short, thick lower bush. Two Barbets are found; the pied (Pogonorhynchus leucomelas) is quite common. These birds fly singly in the bush and are easily approached. The beautiful Le Valliant's Barbet (Trachyphonus caffer) is much scarcer. Once among the thick twigs of a high tree I could just distinguish two birds either fighting or courting, and on firing I secured a specimen of this handsome species; I seldom saw it. An interesting bird common to this area is the Pied Babbling Thrush (Crateropus bicolor). Mr. Buckley, as quoted in Layard's