268 Prof. J. Wood- Mason on the 



3. On a saltatorial ' Mantis.' [Read October 2nd, 1878.] 



At a recent meeting of the Zoological Society, Mr. H. O. 

 Forbes, F.Z.S., kindly placed at my disposal some speci- 

 mens of Mantidcp* , which he had collected rather more 

 than a year previously in Portugal, on the banks of the 

 Tagus, and he excited my interest by telling me that one 

 of the species had the power of " hopping like a grass- 

 hopper." At the following meeting of the Society he pre- 

 sented me with the promised insects, amongst which was 

 a nymph of an Ameles, nearly allied to A. Spallanzania, 

 remarkable, as 1 found on examination, for its relatively 

 long and powerful hind legs, and, even in its dried and 

 shrivelled condition, for its somewhat thickened posterior 

 thighs. I then applied to Mr. Forbes for further ]3ar- 

 ticulars about it, and this is the reply that I received to 

 my inquiries : — 



" The Ameles I obtained on the 9th of December, 1876, 

 in the open spaces in the pine forests, bordering the south- 

 Avest of the large bay, into which the Tagus opens out just 

 above the city. It was swept from among the Cistus 

 (various species) and the scrub oak ( Quercus fruticosa), 

 especially from the latter. I brought several species 

 {specimens) home alive to our rooms in the hotel, and 

 placed them under a bell-jar, some fifteen to eighteen 

 inches in height, in which there was erected a sprig of 

 rosemary. The Alantises preferred, however, to sit almost 

 on the bottom of the case, on one of the least elevated of 

 the twigs which Avere scattered over it. AYhen irritated or 

 moved suddenly, they would hop up three-fourths of the 

 height of the jar, alighting on a twig of the erect branch 

 of rosemary, assuming the attitude of the Iris oratoria. 

 On the few occasions I saw either catch its prey, it leapt 

 on the flies ; but I had not often the satisfaction of seeing 

 it seize them. When left alone for a while, they invari- 

 ably made for the lower part of their prison." 



Being doubtful, from the use in it of the word "species" 

 for " specimens," whether the above account was intended 

 to apply to other species besides, or to the Ameles alone, 

 I put a question to this effect to Mr. Forbes, from whom 

 I have received the following explicit reply : — 



* Empvm egenn, $^ immature; and J7-is 07'atoria, $ adult; besides 

 the subject of the present note. 



