PEAYIJsrG MANTIDS — GURNET 357 



several localities in Vermont and Massachusetts, and in 1950 it again 

 occurred abundantly at several New England localities, and was found 

 near Albany, N. Y. In 1950 I was surprised to find it at the summit 

 and on the slopes of Mount Greylock, the highest peak in southern 

 New England, which is so boreal that the wingless White Mountain 

 grasshopper {Zuhovskya glacialis glacialis (Scudder)) lives there. 

 Can it be that 50 years have been required for the mantid to spread 

 by natural means from the Rochester, N. Y., area; or has climate, 

 which apparently limited the eastern spread, moderated and permitted 

 this mantid to move quickly into New England areas formerly closed 

 to it? An inquiry to the Weather Bureau disclosed that at Pittsfield, 

 near Mount Greylock, one of the important weather stations of west- 

 ern Massachusetts, the average temperature during the winter of 

 1948-49 was higher than any in the station's history. In the winter of 

 1949-50 it was also high, well above average. This certainly suggests 

 that mild climate has been partly responsible for the spread of the 

 European mantis ; also that a very severe winter may yet eliminate it 

 as a naturalized New England insect. 



I further learned that a biology professor near Boston had re- 

 leased the mantid during recent years, probably accounting for some 

 current records from eastern Massachusetts, and that truckers had 

 brought loads of dried hay from New York State into western Massa- 

 chusetts and perhaps to other sections of New England. In hayfields 

 at Cummington, Mass., I found the species abundant. The logical 

 conclusion is that if the imported hay came from New York areas 

 where the mantid was established, then egg masses could easily have 

 been brought to Massachusetts. In other words, climatic changes alone 

 probably were not entirely responsible for the expanded distribution, 

 but, instead, a combination of climate and artificial introductions. 



4. Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis Carolina (Johansson) , and related 

 species : 



This is the best-known native mantid of the Eastern States. It 

 occurs from Pennsylvania across the Middle West to Colorado and 

 south into Mexico. There has been doubt as to whether the insect 

 occurred in New Jersey, but inasmuch as Teale (1950) has reported 

 its occurrence around Baldwin, Long Island, perhaps a northeastern 

 extension has recently been favored by mild winters, and the species 

 may prove to occur in New Jersey. Males of the Carolina mantis are 

 much more slender than the females. Wings of the latter usually are 

 noticeably shorter than the abdomen, and there is little if any flight 

 except by the males. Over-all body length is usually li/^ to 2 inches. 

 Egg masses usually are scarcely more than an inch long and half 

 an inch or somewhat more in diameter. 



