154 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



Length of palp 

 ' „ „ Ist leg 



„ „ 2nd leg 



„ „ 3rd leg 



„ „ 4th leg 

 Patella and Tibia of Ist leg 

 „ „ 2nd leg 



,, „ „ 3rd leg 



„ „ ,, 4th leg 



Protarsus of 4th leg 



47 

 74 

 66 

 55 

 70 

 28 

 25 

 20 

 25 

 16 

 Quite by accident, 1 came across a silk lined bvirrow, in the jungles, 

 which I suspected belonged to one of these spiders. On introducing a 

 stick into it, 1 however failed to move or feel anything, so placing a dead 

 leaf over the mouth of the burrow, I left it until the following morning, 

 when on my return I foun<I that the leaf had been moved aside during 

 the night and fastened with a few threads to one side of the mouth of 

 the burrow — clear proof that the latter was occupied. The burrow was 

 made on a clean open space of slightly sloping ground, away from any 

 trees or shrubs. The ground was very hard, and it was not until 1 had 

 dug to the very bottom of the burrow — 2 feet in an almost perpendicular 

 direction, — that I found the spider, and about 30 or 40 young ones 

 crawling over and around her. The mother showed very 

 The young ones measured about l/3rd inch across. The 

 the section of the burrow measured as nearly as possible 2 

 burrow was beautifully lined with silk throughout. 



On looking about, I found another burrow, within a few yards of the 

 first one. It was &. facsimile of the latter and like it contained a female 

 with a large number of young ones of a similar size as the first lot. 



Unlike the natives I enquired of at Khandala, those in Kanara were 

 perfectly well acquainted with these spiders which they knew by the name 

 of " Waghzin's." 



They stated that their bite would draw blood and that they were 

 poisonous but the poison was not of a very virulent nature ? Pocock 

 mentions that they possess poison-glands of large size, and are armed 

 with irritating bristles. 



little fight, 

 diameter of 

 inches. The 



L. L. FENTON, Lt.-Col. 



Marsh Hall, South Molton, N. Devon. 

 22nd October 1916. 



No. XIV.— THE " PREYING MANTIS " AS AN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



My knowledge of the Mantidce is very limited, but I had always under- 

 stood that they preyed on comparatively small insects, such as most of us 

 have seen them shikaring on our dinner tables. I was mistaken, but I must 

 say I was considerably surprised to find one tackling one of the ornithoptera 

 group of butterflies. 



Last May, I was encamped at Potoli in the Supa Taluka, North Kanara, 

 and one morning, when hunting butterflies in the local evergreen jungle, 

 noticed a Fapilio minos in efl'ectually struggling to get away from a large 

 bunch of flowers, on a tree, about 12 feet above the ground. I at once 

 thought it must have got entangled in a spider's web, but there was no 

 time to waste, and hastily scrambling up the tree, with the assistance of a 

 native, I succeeded in clapping my net over the flower before the butterfly 

 had escaped, and broke the former oft' at the stem. On regaining the 

 ground and carefully examining my capture, I found no trace of a spiders' 



