^au — The Biology of Stagmomantis Carolina. 29 



Mating Habits. 



The very fact that the female mantis almost always 

 devours her mate while the pair are in copulo, and the 

 male unresistingly clings while he is slowly being eaten, 

 makes the mating habits of this species arouse more than 

 ordinary interest. 



PL II is a very good photograph of a pair in the 

 characteristic position of mating. The female here 

 illustrated is green, while the male is an ordinary dark 

 insect. The illustration nicely shows the general 

 structural dimorphism of the sexes, as well as the com- 

 parative size of the antennae. 



That the males seek the females I have not a doubt, 

 for in many cases they were found clinging to the out- 

 side of the cages containing the latter. The insects 

 display so much individuality in their mating habits 

 that it will be well to give the details of the behavior of 

 a few typical individuals during this period. 



Experiment 1. Aug. 14, 8:00 A. M., a male and a 

 newly-matured female were placed in a large breeding- 

 cage. A half-hour later the female was walking about 

 the ceiling of the cage, gracefully mounted by the male 

 (but not in actual copulo), who tightly clutched her 

 around the prothorax with his forelegs. The female 

 was greedily devouring hairy caterpillars. The entire 

 day was spent in slowly walking thus about the ceiling. 

 Actual mating occurred at twilight, after a courtship of 

 about ten hours, during all of which time the male seemed 

 in quite the proper position. They separated some time 

 between midnight and 6 the next morning, but at 10 :30 

 the male had again mounted, and at 12 o'clock noon 

 they resumed copulation and continued throughout the 

 afternoon, severing some time between 7 :30 and 10 that 

 evening. Again the next morning, Aug. 16, at 6, the male 

 had mounted for the third time, but actual mating did 



