The South Australian Naturalist. 17 



The mautids rarely attack their prey when it is sitting still ; 

 in fact, I have never seen them attack anything that was not 

 on the move, unless it brought its wanderings to a halt right in 

 front of the mantid's fore-legs. The mantis will then strike out 

 as soon as the insect stops, or not until it moves again. Neither 

 will it pursue its prey. It is amazing to watch it lightly hang- 

 ing ; it hangs so lightly that it seems hardly to touch the leaves 

 or wire, swajdng gracefully, first one way and then the other, 

 with fore-legs drawn well up to the thorax, ready to strike. 

 On one occasion the insect Avhicli had attracted the attention 

 of the mantis ran past and came to a halt about three inches 

 away. The mantis swayed gracefully in the direction of the 

 desired morsel, waved its thin antennae uneasily, and watched 

 keenly with its large, protruding eyes. I watched and waited 

 for about twenty minutes to see what would happen. Still the 

 mantis hung to the wire, on the alert, and still the insect dozed. 

 My patience became exhausted. I disturbed its slumbers by 

 touching it with a thin stick. It ran within reach of the mantis. 

 There was a sudden flash of spined legs, and all was over for 

 the insect. 



I w^anted to see how it behaved with a stinging insect, so I 

 put a honey bee and a black wasp into the mantis' cage. It 

 caught the bee. and instantly began to eat at the sting; it 

 treated the wasp likewise. The only time I have seen a mantis 

 let go anything once caught was when I put a very large spider 

 in the cage. It caught the spider as usual, but the latter 

 showed her resentment by badly biting the mantis on the fore- 

 leg, between the second and third joint. The mantis threw the 

 spider with some force to the bottom of the cage, and proceeded 

 to lick the wound, from which a watery fluid was oozing, and 

 as I did not want to risk the mantis being killed just then, I 

 removed the spider from the cage. 



From the name ''Praying Mantis," by which it is com- 

 monly called, one would expect to find it a paragon of all the 

 virtues in the insect Avorld, but on the contrary there is nothing 

 saintly about it. It is indeed a tiger among insects. It is 

 called ''Prajdng Mantis'' from the way it quietly sits, with its 

 two fore-legs drawn up under its chin, when hunting, and was 

 thus thought to resemble one in an attitude of prayer. Until 

 the mantis are full grown they feed mostly on flies and other 

 small insects, but when mature they prefer larger game. 



When they begin to grow old, or about six weeks before 

 they die, they feed again only on flies and other small insects. 

 It is pitiful to see these creatures growing old, after having 



