The Bionomics of South African Insects. o09 



March 8. One other caldarena completely eaten ; the 

 third died, its head having been partly- 

 eaten. 



„ 9. Put in one female halali and one male, and 

 one female caldarena. Tlie former was 

 soon caught, but after a few bites was 

 rejected with evident disgust. 



„ 10. Male caldarena eaten completely, female 

 partially, 



„ 12. Put in male natalica, one male and one 

 female caldarena; the two former partially 

 eaten. The latter was caught three times 

 in quick succession, but promptly rejected 

 on each occasion after the first bite. 



,, 13. Put in a male 7i«/'f/^, which the Mantis took 

 at once, throwing it away after eating 

 about half the thorax. Then gave her a 

 male caldarena, which was completely 

 eaten, so put in a second, which she 

 promptly cauglit, but threw it down after 

 the first bite at the thorax. She caught 

 it again about a minute afterwards and 

 started eating the apex of abdomen, but 

 two bites were sufficient. A third attempt 

 ended similarly. 



„ 14. Saw Mantis seize and reject the same 

 caldarena twice ; removed it in the evening. 



,, 1 G. Put in a male ccddarena, which was completely 

 eaten, but a second which I gave her 

 immedately afterwards remained un- 

 touclied. The Mantis began to show 

 distinct signs of weakness, and I observed 

 an opaque blackish spot in her left eye 

 to-day for the first time. 



„ 1 7. The male ccddarena was killed to-day by a 

 bite on the head. Mantis began to nibble 

 off the end of one of her front tarsi, a 

 sign that her end is not far off. 



,, 18. Gave her a female ccddarena, which was 

 caught several times but not eaten. She 

 continued to nibble at her tarsi. 



,, 19. Mantis oviposited during the night, but the 

 egg cocoon was only half as large as usual 

 in this species [eggs proved to be infertile]. 



