20 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



niarginatus Fab. Lace-wing adults, Chrysopa Sp. 

 Crickets. Cabbage butterflies, Pieris rapae. 

 Nymphs of grasshoppers and locusts. Frog, about 

 one-half inch in length, was held in the forceps and 

 kept in motion before the mantis. The frog was 

 seized and about one-fourth devoured. 



Many kinds of food insects were offered to the mantis 

 upon forceps. Potato-bugs were refused when the insect 

 was not terribly hungry; robber-flies (Diptera) and 

 stink-bugs (Hemiptera) and very large grasshoppers 

 were always rejected. The insect never hesitated to 

 jump at the forceps bearing palatable bits, and never 

 delayed to back away when a distasteful morsel was 

 offered. From this I would infer that the sense of smell 

 or of sight, or both, must be highly developed. 



A bag-w^orm larva removed from the cocoon was 

 offered to a number of mantis, but in every case but one 

 it was refused. In this case the mantis at first ran away 

 very fast from the forceps carrying the larva, but 

 stopped and turned its head around, and when I insisted 

 again it grasped the ''bug," put it to its mouth and im- 

 mediately dropped it to the floor in apparent disgust. 



One mantis was observed making an attempt to grasp 

 a wasp {Polistes Sp.), but after eyeing it for a few sec- 

 onds the mantis jumped away. I followed with the 

 Polistes in the forceps, but it would dodge from one 

 side to the other when the wasp was thrust directly in 

 front of its mouth. In a later experiment, a mantis ate 

 the head and part of the abdomen of a male wasp 

 (Polistes Sp.). 



A mantis attempted to devour a white moth (family 

 Arctiidae) by biting into it at the thorax near the l>asal 

 part of the left wing. After the wing had been severed 

 the insect continued its efforts to penetrate the hard 

 chitin. Making no headway it left the insect clinging 

 to the wire screening. After about five minutes it re- 

 turned and again began to bite awav at it at the same 



