The plant most usually selected by these insects is the mahoe (_Melicytus ramiflorus_), whose stems may be often seen pierced with large holes. Out of these the insects emerge at night to feed on the leaves. To extract a number of specimens, without injury, requires considerable care, and is best performed with a small axe, which should be first used to cut in about three-quarters through the trunk, just below one of the holes. Another notch is then cut about a foot lower down, and the intermediate wood split off in long pieces, until the tunnel is laid bare. On approaching an insect the first thing seen are two red threads, which are the antennæ, laid back as shown at Fig. 8. A deep notch is then cut into the trunk, some nine or ten inches below this point, and the piece bodily wrenched off. If the individual thus treated is a male he will cling firmly to the log, elevating his hind-legs in the air and biting viciously at anything within reach, but the females, in the majority of cases, endeavour to escape and hide themselves under the leaves, &c., on the ground. Both sexes when irritated emit a peculiar grating sound, which may be often heard at night in the forest, and is produced by the friction of the femur against a small file situated on each side of the second abdominal segment. They can also leap a short distance, but not so far as many of the smaller species (_Libanasa macropathus_, &c.). They are evidently strictly arboreal in their habits, as they exhibit great skill in walking along branches, and will climb up a thin stick with wonderful rapidity. When in their burrows the posterior legs are extended behind the insect and push, while the anterior and intermediate ones are thrust forwards, the claws being firmly inserted, so as to enable the insect to pull itself along. {114}Travelling along the burrow in this manner, they frequently evade all efforts to extract them, until they are stopped by arriving at the end of the gallery. The sexes of this species are readily distinguishable, the male (Plate XVIII., fig. 2) possessing an immense head furnished with a pair of enormously powerful mandibles. The female (Plate XVII., fig. 8) is a more attractive insect, her gracefully curved ovipositor and smaller head having a much more pleasing appearance than the terribly menacing jaws of her mate. Both sexes are able to give severe bites, but it is extremely doubtful whether they would prove anything worse than slight mechanical injuries, as the insect is not likely to be poisonous. I am, however, unable to speak from experience. Family GRYLLIDÆ. _Xiphidium maoricum_ (Plate XVII., fig. 1).