PHILIPPINE MANTIDS, OR PRAYING INSECTS 
By F. WERNER 
Of Vienna University, Vienna, Austria 
ONE PLATE 
Through the kindness of my friend Dr. H. H. Karny, I was 
enabled to examine a small but highly interesting collection of 
mantids, consisting of sixty specimens, collected by Prof. Charles 
Fuller Baker, of the College of Agriculture, Los Bafios, Philip- 
pine Islands. For this courtesy I am much indebted to Profes- 
sor Baker, and hope he will further devote a part of his time 
to the collection of mantids, as our knowledge of the Philippine 
species seems still very far from perfect, as can easily be seen 
when not less than six species out of twenty prove to be new to 
science, 
Under the circumstances it is much too early to comment upon 
the geographical distribution of Philippine mantids; still many 
years of study will be required before we can say that we know 
the mantid fauna of Luzon alone. However, I hope that resident 
naturalists, seeing the remarkable effect of present collecting, 
will not cease to give attention to this interesting group of insects. 
In the systematic arrangement of species I have followed 
Giglio-Tos, whose monographic works on mantids, based on very 
rich material, must be regarded as the foundation for future 
systematic work on the insects of this family. It is significant 
of the paucity of Philippine material in European collections 
that, among the immense numbers of new species described by 
Giglio-Tos, hardly a half dozen are from the Philippine Islands. 
EREMIAPHILINA: 
Metallyticus violaceus Burmeister. 
Middle and hind femora dark at apex; abdomen entirely blue 
below; no red spots on head. The species has already been 
recorded from the same locality by Hebard.* 
MINDANAO, Zamboanga, 1 female. 
"Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 72 (1920) 18. 
1878972 147 
