Report of the State Entomologist. 



161 



motion is liarcUy perceptible, until it has approached within suitable dis- 

 tance, when its powerful prehensile legs are suddenly thrown forward, 

 grasping its victim, which is then held securely between the two spined 

 joints of the legs folded one on the other, and devoured while struggling 

 for escape. The food of the young consists largely of plant-lice, but as 

 they mature they catch and consume quite large insects. They feed upon 

 flies eagerly ; they are believed to destroy large numbers of cotton-worms 

 in the Southern fields; and they even prey upon the Eocky Mountain 

 locust, as appears from the First Report of the U. S. Entomological Com- 

 mission, page 334. Prof. Riley states {Report of the Entomologist for 1883, 

 p. 163) that they feed on the elm-leaf beetle, Galeruca xanthomelcena. 



Fig. 60. — The camel cricket, Mantis Cakolina; a, female; b, male. 



Mr. Hubbard (p. 189, op. cit.) records them as catching every moving 

 insect that comes within their reach on the orange trees in Florida. Their 

 voracity frequently leads them to devour one another, not only when just 

 from the egg, when other food may not be convenient, but not unfre- 

 quently the amorous male falls a victim to the stronger-bodied female. 

 A writer has stated : "The females being much larger, stronger and more 

 rapacious than their mates, will frequently seize and kill them, and after- 

 ward make a good meal from their quivering bodies." 



Its Distribution and Usefulness. 

 Mantis Carolina is a southern insect, abundant about Washington, D. C, 

 but never occurring in the State of New York. Glover has stated that they 

 have been successfully raised as far north as the Hudson river by bring- 

 ing the egg-cases from the Middle States. Several cases were found fast- 

 ened to the trees the nest autumn, but after that they entirely disappeared. 

 The eggs, probably, can not endure our northern winters. Could it be 

 introduced and acclimated in our Northern States, it would be quite 

 desirable to do so, for it certainly renders gi'eat service in the large num- 

 ber of noxious insects that it consumes in order to satisfy its voracity. 

 An instance is related of a single female devouring eleven living Colorado 

 36 



