408 Professor E. B. Poulton on 
In addition to the above, Mr. W. L. Distant draws 
attention to the records of Cicadas attacked by species of 
Mantis at Delagoa Bay and in the Transvaal.* 
Although the evidence is so madequate, it presents 
indications that conclusions of much value will be reached 
by extended observations. In the first place, the whole of 
the victims except one were Lepidopterous. In the second 
place, the proportion of specially protected forms was very 
high. Thus a Delias was attacked twice, an Acrza once, 
Limnas chrysippus once in the imaginal and once in the 
larval state. In respect of the attacks on such forms no 
distinction can be drawn between the Mantide and the 
Locustide. We are led to believe that the predaceous 
Orthoptera are important foes of those Lepidoptera that are 
specially defended from vertebrate insect-eaters. 
V. COLEOPTERA. 
The following brief list is chiefly useful in drawing 
marked attention to the urgent need for observations with 
full and accurate data. The experiments of Professor F. 
Plateau (Mém. Soc. Zool. Fr. t. vii, p. 375, §9: see also 
Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1902, p. 330) suggest that preda- 
ceous beetles are probably important foes of specially pro- 
tected insects. These experiments are not quoted on the 
present occasion inasmuch as the Coleoptera were fed in 
confinement. The present Memoir deals only with the 
prey selected by predaceous forms in the wild state. 
It must be remembered that beetles are frequently 
scavengers rather than truly predaceous. Thus the 
observation of an actual capture becomes of especial value. 
In the following list the two flies had certainly fallen into 
the water, and No. 357 may have been drowned before it 
was seized. The Agabus, No. 356, and Elaterid, No. 362, 
were certainly attacking living prey. 
* «Insecta Transvaaliensia,” Pt. vii, 1906, pp. 169, 170. 
