136 Captain C. E. Williams' Notes on 



widely separated, the limbs being extended in front of the 

 head, while the insect maintains a more or less inverted 

 position of the body, with the ventral surface turned 

 towards the light. 



The females possess well-developed wings, and have 

 the power of flight. The large prothoracic expansion is 

 coloured a faint green, and has no central black spot; it 

 plays no part in the floral mimicry. Here we see the 

 petaloid colouring, which is confined to the prothoracic 

 disc in Gongyhis, appearing in another situation, viz. on 

 the coxse, in Idolum, and that in Gongyhis the purple 

 colouring of the coxse is utilized for quite a different 

 purpose, to produce a hostile or warning effect. We may 

 remark that Gongylus when adopting a hostile attitude 

 not infrequently opens out the several joints of its fore 

 limbs, though not so widely or so far in i'ront of the head 

 as does Idolum — and it is worth recalling that Mr. Shelford 

 of the Sarawak Museum, in the paper before referred to, 

 states that many Bornear\ Mantises so extend their 

 raptorial limbs before seizing their prey. He calls this 

 attitude that they adopt a " warning " attitude. The 

 hostile attitude already described in Gongylus is probabl}'' 

 deserving of this name, since it evidently seeks by such 

 action to drive off an unwelcome visitor, but the term is 

 not perhaps so well applied to an act in other species 

 which precedes an attempt to seize the prey. 



Floral simulation by Mantises appears to have proceeded 

 along two distinct lines. In the majority of species, 

 including some species of the tribe Empusides, the mimicry 

 depends upon the coloration and conformation of the 

 wings and tegmina and of the dorsal aspect of the body, 

 correlated with special attitudes adopted to display these 

 peculiar markings to advantage. Such coloration and 

 modification of form may also be developed in connection 

 with a warning or hostile attitude. A large, winged 

 Mantis, species unknown, found in the Shan States, which 

 has large eye-spots and brilliant colours on its wings, 

 spreads out and displays these when adopting a hostile 

 attitude, perhaps also as a means of attracting its prey, 

 though this has not yet been observed. 



The second line of floral simulation is that taken by 

 Gongylus and Idolum, in Avhich species the ventral aspect 

 is modified in form and colour, chiefly with a view to 

 attraction of prey, while the dorsal surface and wings are 



