196 SOME SOUTH INDIAN INSECTS, ETC. [(HAP. XXI. 



attitude when at rest amongst foliage, head downwards and with 

 its long sharp-spined front legs doubled together in readiness 

 to strike at its prey, which are usually butterflies. The head, 

 being separated from the body by an attenuated thorax which 

 resembles an elongated neck, seems to be something apart and 

 does not resemble an insect at all ; in some specimens the inner 

 surfaces of the raptorial legs are coloured bright pink in life and 

 the head then resembles a papilionaceous flower which may 

 allure butterflies to approach within striking distance. The 

 deceptive appearance is often accentuated by the adoption of a 

 gentle sideways swaying motion of the whole insect, which not 

 only gives an impression of a flower swaying in a gentle breeze 

 hut at the same time brings into action yet another device in the 

 reflection of light from the lower surfaces of the prothoracic lobes 

 which Hash out like spots of sunshine finding their way through 

 the foliage. Finally, the insect occurs in two different shades, 

 green and brown, resembling living or dead leaves respectively, 

 and exhibits strong sexual dimorphism, the male having pectinated 

 antenna- and well-developed wings whilst in the female the 

 antenna; are simple and the wings abbreviated. It may be added 

 that males arc relatively scarce because the female sometimes eats 

 the male prior to pairing and invariably does so afterwards. 



Raptorial legs, especially suited for the capture and retention 

 of prey by the development of an armature of spines, as seen 

 typically in the Mantids, are found in man) widely different 

 groups of insects, such as the Mantida. the Mantispida and the 

 Reduviidas, and the parallel development of such similar structures 

 is an excellent example of convergence in evolution which may be 

 commended to tin- student. The possession of a long slender 

 rostrum, as seen in the plant-feeding bugs, may be compared with 

 the short, stout beak found in predaceous groups, but the posses- 

 sion of raptorial legs is often a surer mark of distinction ; in the 

 Pentatomida, for example, the rostrum is always long and slender, 

 whether the bug is a plant-feeder or a predator, but in cases of 

 doubt as to feeding habits a good guess can usually be made after 

 examination of the fore-tibia, which is always provided with Spines 

 in predaceous species (e.g., Andrallus, see ligure 356). 



Many Wasps are predaceous on other insects and the various 

 species which search out and destroy caterpillars are highly 

 beneficial. Some wasps, such as the social species ot Polistes 

 which commonly build small open hanging nests in bushes and 

 buildings, either eat the caterpillars themselves or Iced them to 

 their larva', but many of the solitary cell-building wasps collect 



