18 The South Australian Naturalist. 



watched them in their period of courage and strength. They 

 hunt less, their appetite fails, and they hang to their support 

 most of the day, with their fore-legs unclasped, and not drawn 

 up to the thorax. In this position they are resting, not hunt- 

 ing. Their grip on the support becomes more feeble, and when 

 climbing about they very often fall, and one finds them helpless 

 on the ground. When these insects are in their prime they have 

 a large appetite, and I have seen them attack things larger than 

 themselves. I had a lizard about three inches long brought to 

 me. I did not have a cage ready for it, and as it fed on flies 

 also, I put it in with a mantis until I could arrange for it. 

 There were plenty of flies in the cage, and I had no fear for the 

 lizard, but felt a little uneasy about the mantis. However, to 

 be near in case of a quarrel, I put the cage on a small table 

 near where I was busy. For about half an hour all went well, 

 when my attention was attracted by a struggling in the cage, 

 and to my surprise the mantis had the lizard firmly clasped in 

 her fore-legs, and was beginning to feed on it. As I did not 

 want the lizard destroyed, I beat against the wire of the cage 

 with my hand, but she still went on feeding, and still the lizard 

 struggled. I pushed her about Avith a stick; still she held on 

 and fed. In desperation I turned the cage upside down, and 

 deposited her on the table. She gave me a look as much as to 

 say, ''Why all this fuss?" and again went on with her meal. 

 As these insects have strong jaws and eat rapidly, there wa.s 

 quite a hole in the side of the lizard, from which a pinkish fluid 

 began to flow. I had to force her fore-legs open with my fingers 

 to release her victim, which Avas so badly wounded that it had 

 to be dispatched. When I returned her to her cage she walked 

 about excitedly, waving her thin antennae. 



A few days later I gave her another lizard, about the same 

 size as the other — one I did not Avant to keep — to see if she 

 really liked them as food. She had a good supply of flies, as 

 usual, but as soon as the unsuspecting lizard passed near her 

 on the Avire she snapped him. I noticed that Avith both lizards 

 she fastened an arm around the throat, practically strangling 

 it, and the other around the body near the hind-leg, rendering 

 the legs quite helpless. These mantids nearly ahvays start to 

 eat at the back of the head or the side of the throat, except 

 AA^lien the Adctim is small, and then it starts anywhere. Her 

 meal on the lizard lasted tAvo and a half hours, and she left only 

 the head, feet, bones, and tail. The large mantids are extremely 

 greedy, and their diet is varied. I put three locusts, an incJti 

 in length, into the cage AAdth one. She caught first one, ate off 

 its head, then held it on one arm AA^hile she snapped at another 



