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IIT. On tJw Biology of Sphodromantis guttata (Mantidae). 

 By C. B. Williams, B.A., F.E.S., The John Innes 

 Horticultural Institute, Merton, Surrey, and P. A. 

 Buxton, B.A., F.E.S., Trinity College, Cambridge. 



[Read November 17th, 1915.] 



Plates VII-X. 



The following paper includes some observations on the 

 hatching, breeding and oviposition of Sphoclromantis 

 guttata, Thunb. ( = Hierodula bioculata, Sauss.), and 

 some criticisms of several of the hitherto published works 

 on this subject. It is recognised that there are still many 

 doubtful points on which further work is required, but, as 

 there seems to be no probability of our being able to con- 

 tinue on this subject in the near future, we thought it best 

 to put forward the present notes without any further 

 delay. 



The oothecae were collected by P. A. Buxton at El 

 Kantara, S. Algeria, in April 1913. They were found on 

 stones, sticks, bushes, etc., and were quite common in the 

 little dry watercourses (" oueds ") in the stony desert. 

 Some of the larvae emerged before they were brought 

 back to England, as early as April 19. Although no adult 

 Mantids were seen they were probably there, as they are 

 found at this time of the year in Egypt (Adair, 1914, i, 

 p. 126). 



A short account of the structure of the ootheca will be 

 found below in connection with its construction. For the 

 present it will be sufficient to recall the fact that the eggs 

 lie in groups in the middle of a case, and that each group 

 of eggs has a passage to the exterior along which the just- 

 hatched larvae pass. 



Emergence generally took place in the morning, a large 

 number of young appearing almost simultaneously, fol- 

 lowed by stragglers for a few hours, and further batches 

 from the same ootheca on the following days. Several 

 authors have commented on this simultaneous hatching 

 of a number of eggs, and the remarkable spectacle of the 

 dozens of young emerging from the ootheca. It is prob- 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1916. — PART I. (AUG.) 



