Ran — The Biology of Stagmomantis Carolina. 33 



afteruoou, and from the middle of the afternoon until 

 night of the 18th, and after that appeared quite indif- 

 ferent to each other until the afternoon of the 21st, when 

 they again remated for a few hours. They went about 

 singly for the next three days, after which the male 

 mounted for a few hours in the evening, but did not ac- 

 complish mating. By morning he had been dislodged, 

 but in the afternoon he again persistently remounted. 

 He was carried thus by the female all day, and it may 

 be all night too. The next morning revealed an inter- 

 esting double surprise ; there was an unfinished egg-case 

 made during the night, and the pair was again in copulo. 

 Whether she made this ootheca with the male on her 

 back, or whether he left her while she hurriedly con- 

 structed it and then insistently returned, is not known. 

 The nest certainly offered the appearance of hasty or 

 interrupted work, for it measured only 10 mm. in length 

 and was not finished with the usual nicety of a gradual 

 slope from the top to the base, but it had the appearance 

 of having terminated abruptly. The oncoming of ovi- 

 position probably prevented copulation, for we know 

 that the male was mounted and in readiness for the three 

 days preceding, and that it occurred within a few min- 

 utes or at least a few hours after the egg-case had left 

 her body. 



They continued in copulo throughout the day, but 

 were separated all of the next. On the morning of the 

 28th, it was found that an additional ootheca 22 mm. in 

 length had been joined to the first one, during the night. 

 We shall not venture to call this more than mere chance 

 or coincidence, and yet this was the second instance of 

 a mother mantis placing her second nest in close juxta- 

 position to the first, quite as though it were a continua- 

 tion of it. 



For the next two days each went about its own affairs, 

 and on the morning of the 30th the male was gone, evi- 

 dently having been devoured since escape was impos- 



