Ran — The Biology of Stagmomantis Carolina. 21 



spot; after two miuutes persistent effort it became dis- 

 gusted and dropped tiie moth to the floor. Taking it in 

 my forceps 1 again olfered it to her repeatedly, but she 

 persistently refused. This mantis must have been pretty 

 hungry, but still had not the "ability," "wisdom" or 

 "foresight" to know that by trying at a point further 

 down, the soft parts of the abdomen would be found. 

 My second insect made a like refusal, but in a third ex- 

 periment the mantis began by devouring the caudal end 

 of the moth, eating headward, and in fifteen minutes it 

 had consumed the entire insect. Of course it was prob- 

 ably wholly accidental that the last mantis found the ' 

 soft parts first. 



A small njTnph, aged 17 days, was seen to feed upon 

 two small Hymenoptera one morning. At 6:30 it 

 pounced upon one, and holding it fast in the forelegs 

 began to devour it. After two and a half minutes, what- 

 ever remained was held in the mouth while the second 

 was seized; this was held tightly while the first was 

 being devoured, — and this without any help from the 

 forelegs in holding the first. This was entirely eaten in 

 five minutes, immediately after which, the second was 

 consumed in eight minutes. Perhaps the first was eaten 

 hastily to prevent the possible escape of the second. 



A marked mantis, whose entire prothorax was thickly 

 covered with green paint, was devoured, paint and all,^ 

 by a comrade, and so far as I could see agreed perfectly 

 w^ell with the insect. 



The adults have the most human characteristic of 

 breaking large prey in two parts, one "hand" holding- 

 one portion to the mouth while the other tightly holds 

 the second course in readiness. 



While the njTuphs are greedy eaters, I believe that 

 the adults, at least the older ones, can get along for a 

 considerable time without food. At one period of three 

 days early in September when food was very difficult to 

 obtain, out of 28 caged specimens which had no food, only 



