1894.] Edward Barlow— A"o/*' on the food-msccfs of the mantis. 139 



much, for they attacked them Avith great reluctance — appearing to be 

 almost frightened of them — and only devoured them when they could 

 get nothing else. 



The 7th and 8th of November being liolidays, I did not attend 

 office, consequently the insects were left without any food. Attending 

 the Museum on the 9th instant, my first thought was of the mantises, 

 and on going up to the cage I beheld a sight which fully illustrated 

 the voracious nature of these insects, for during my absence the 

 stronger one of the two, not finding other food, had deliberately made 

 a meal of his weaker companion, devouring the entire abdomen, leavino- 

 the wings, legs, &c., of his unfortunate victim streAvn about in the 

 cage. 



My next experiment on the remaining mantis was to find out if 

 there were any kinds of insects that it would not eat, and havino- read 

 that these raptorial Orthoptera have been noticed by different observers 

 to devour caterpillars, grasshoppers, butterflies, beetles, and even small 

 birds, I placed in the cage two living specimens of a bug {Gyclopetia sp.), 

 which had been sent to the Museum from Poena as infesting Legumin- 

 osce and other species of Erijfhrina. Previously the mantis had been 

 kept without food for two days as a just punishment for its crime, so 

 on perceiving the bugs it seized the one nearest to it with great eager- 

 ness, and, turning the head from side to side, made two attempts to 

 bite its victim, the taste of which, however, it appeai-ed to dislike, 

 showing signs of its dislike by wiping its mouth against its right fore- 

 leg several times. I watched the mantis, off and on, for about two 

 hours, but excepting the two attempts it had made to eat the bno- it 

 never moved, till its victim lay dead between its two forelegs, when 

 it let it drop. 



The next day I placed in the cage some specimens of another kind 

 of a bug (Physomerus sp.), which had been sent to the Museum from 

 Poena as infesting Gonvolvulacece. The flesh of this bug also appeared 

 to be distasteful to the mantis, and though it destroyed several speci- 

 mens, it would not eat them. Considering its condition at the time 

 having been without food for several days — I am inclined to think that 

 bugs do not form the food of Mantis ; but to prove this many more 

 experiments would be necessary. Unfortunately my observations had 

 to be abandoned here, as the mantis died soon after its refusal to eat 

 the bugs, from sheer starvation 1 think. 



