— 3 — 



be infested by wonns of this family. The worm was usually coiled up 

 in the body cavity of the niantis, in a spirai with one end buried in 

 the prenerative orgaus, which had invariably atrophied; in a few cases 

 it was alreaiJy makint,' ita way out of the generative duct to the exterior, 

 and, in at least one, two individuais were present in a single host. The 

 Mantidae examined were ali females, which were taken fas more fre- 

 quently than the niales. Native women in this district will not allow 

 their chiidren to handie these Orthoptera, wich are made to fìght by 

 Malay in some parts of the Malay Peninsula, for it is well known to 

 the Malays an<l Siamese that worms of the kind frequently infest such 

 hosts, and it is believed that they sometimes make their way from the 

 insects to the noses of human beings, up which they wriggle, causing 

 madness and fìnally death, I bave dealt eisewhere with native beliefs 

 in the Patani States as to the origin and metamorphosis of the Gordids, 

 wbich are known locally as ular ribu-ribu, or « climbing fern snakes », 

 because of their resemblance to the rhìzome of a species of Lìjgodium 

 [Proc. Roy. Phijs. Sor,. Edinbw^gh, voi. XIV, part. 4, 1900 1901, pp. 450 

 et posi.). Malay women boii these worras in oil, which they afterwards 

 smear on their hair, believing that the black, glossy appearance of the 

 animai will be thus transmitted to it; the specimens used for this purpose 

 are invariably procured from Mantidae. 



N. Annunciale ». 



