In connection with the habits of the Mantidae — a subject which had 

 been recently brought under the notice of the Society by Mr. Wood-Mason 

 and others — Mr. Stainton remarked that on March 20th, 1866, lie received 

 a letter from Mr. Moggridge, jun., stating that he had forwarded a cater- 

 pillar "and also a curious grasshopper (?)." The latter was enclosed in a 

 box, from which, on being opened, there jumped out a little creature which 

 he had no dithculty in recognising as a young Mantis. It was of a wliitish 

 green colour, and may possibly have been the young larval form of Mantis 

 religiosa. It was placed back in the box, and the next morning again 

 examined, the long anterior segment of the thorax and the peculiar anterior 

 legs leaving no room for doubt that the specimen, in spite of its hopping 

 movements, was a young Mantis. It was again turned out of the box, and 

 again made little jumps, not such springs as would be taken by a grass- 

 hopper, but still there was that in its movements which quite justified 

 Mr. Moggridge, who, although a first-rate botanist, has not yet turned his 

 attention to Entomology, in calling it " a curious grasshopper!?)." De Geer 

 observes (vol. iii., p. 401) that " les Mantes approchent beaucoup des Sau- 

 terelles, quoiqu'elles ne puissent pas sauter." Mr. Stainton was of opinion 

 that this peculiar motion of the baby Mantis is one of those cases to which 

 Mr. Darwin has called attention, viz., that the relationship and afiSnities of 

 animals are often more expressed in the embryonic than in the adult form. 



Sir Sidney Saunders exhibited a bag, said to be the production of a 

 large species of spider, brought from the Fiji Islands by Mr. Henry Selfe, 

 engineer on board a steamship trading between those islands and New 

 Zealand. A similar specimen is said to be in the Auckland Museum. 

 The natives are stated to split bamboos and to place the pieces in the form 

 of a bag in the track of the spiders, and when covered by these the slips of 

 bamboo are drawn out. It is believed tliat the natives make cloth of these 

 webs. This information was obtained from another Englishman who had 

 resided four years in these islands. 



The Chairman pointed out that, supposing subsequent inquiries to 

 confirm these statements, this would probably be the first known case of 

 an articulate animal being made to manufacture directly a fabric useful 

 to man. 



The Secretary read the following note by Mr. J. \V. Slater : — 



" On Insects dcstroijed by Flowers." 

 "Whilst it is generally admitted that the gay coloration of flowers is 

 mainly subservient to the purpose of attracting bees and other winged 

 insects, whose visits play so important a part in the process of fertilization, 

 it seems to me that one important fact has scarcely received due attention. 

 Certain gaily-coloured, or at least conspicuous, flowers are avoided by bees, 

 or, if visited, have an injurious and even fatal effect upon the insecta. 



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