x FLORAL SIMULATORS 257 



downwards among a mass of green foliage, and, when it does so, 

 it generally remains almost motionless, but, at intervals, evinces a 

 swaying movement as of a flower touched by a gentle breeze ; 

 and while in this attitude, with its fore-limbs banded violet and 

 black, and drawn up in front of the centre of the corolla, the 

 simulation of a papilionaceous flower is complete. The object of 

 the bright colouring of the under surface of the prothoracic ex- 

 pansion is evident, its purpose being to act as a decoy to Insects, 

 which, mistaking it for a corolla, fly directly into the expectant, 

 serrated, sabre-like, raptorial arms of the simulator. It is no 

 new fact that many Insects resemble the leaves of plants and 

 trees, and that they manifest forms and colours which serve to 

 protect them in the struggle for existence, but so far as Dr. 

 Anderson had ascertained, this was the first recorded instance of 

 an Insect simulating the corolla of a flower for the evident 

 purpose of attracting Insects towards it for its sustenance. It 

 is even more remarkable than this, for it is a localised adaptation 

 for such a purpose, a portion of the Insect being so modified in 

 form and colour that the appearance of the corolla of a plant is 

 produced, in conjunction with the remainder of the long attenuated 

 prothorax, which at a distance resembles the flower stem ; the 

 anterior limbs when in repose even adding to and heightening 

 the deception." 



That we should have no more precise information as to a 

 large Insect of such remarkable habits and appearance, and one 

 that has been known to naturalists for upwards of three centuries, 

 is a matter for regret. Careful observation as to the habits, food, 

 and variation of these floral simulators, and as to whether they 

 seek for spots specially suitable to their coloration, would be of 

 great interest. A European congener of this Insect, Empusa 

 2)auperata, has small foliaceous expansions on the legs, but its 

 habits have not been noticed in detail. 



The very curious Insect represented in Fig. 147, Stenophylla 

 corniyera, is a member of the tribe Yatides ; the form of the cerci 

 at the end of the body is very peculiar. This extremely rare, 

 if not absolutely unique, Insect is a native of the interior of 

 Brazil. 



Dufour has recorded that Mantis reliyiosa possesses the power 

 of producing a mournful sound by rubbing the extremity of the 

 body against the wings ; it is stated that a hissing sound is 

 VOL. v s 



