Rau — The Biology of iStagmomantis Carolina. 25 



and combiiiatiou of these colors between these forms 

 illustrated, and that these variations can be found in 

 every stage of the insect's life cycle after the first moult. 

 As already stated, the color of the male does not vary 

 so greatly, but still green-bodied insects are found. 



The color of the mantis certainly serves to protect it, 

 even though the green insects are not always on green 

 leaves, nor the dark ones on dull bark. The photographs 

 nicely show how, when resting on foliage, their color 

 seems protective, and their appendages blend well with 

 the twigs. In spite of the fact that, so far as I can see, 

 no discrimination is shown in the selection of their back- 

 ground, the insects blend beautifully with their sur- 

 roundings; their form as well as their color seems to 

 make them inconspicuous amid the lights and shadows 

 of the foliage. Thereby they are protected from the 

 attack of enemies and aided in successfully stalking their 

 prey. Of course that does not necessarily mean that 

 their coloration came about on that account. Perhaps 

 this phenomenon can best be explained by Beddard, who 

 says: ''It is often not easy to find a sixpenny piece, 

 which has been dropped on the carpet, but the reason for 

 this is, not that the coin is protectively colored, but that 

 any small object no matter how colored is difficult to 

 discover amid a variagated environment." 



In fact the younger nymphs, with their wings not yet 

 developed, were harder to find than the adults. Usually 

 when insects were needed, sweeping the shrubbery with 

 a net had to be resorted to, although both nymphs and 

 adults were not infrequently to be found stretched across 

 some bright flower waiting for insects, and were ex- 

 tremely conspicuous, but on such plants as the tamerack, 

 iris, hops and canna, the green ones were always incon- 

 spicuous. Blending so nicely with their environment 

 may be instrumental in securing their prey, but to what 

 extent this protects them from birds, toads and other 

 enemies is not known, although Di Cesnola's experiments 



