MANTIS DES1CCATA. 235 



segments are lobed. The tegmina are ornamented 

 near the tips, beneath, with a large black spot sur- 

 rounded by a white circle, which appears through the 

 semi-transparent tegmina on the upper side; theposte- 

 rior wings are very dark brown, the costa and tips being 

 paler brown. The anterior femora are of a moderate 

 size, shining beneath, with four short black bars at 

 the base of the spines. The four posterior legs are 

 slender, the thighs having a small membranous bifid 

 lobe near the tips. 



This insect, which must be regarded as a singular 

 one even in the eccentric tribe to which it belongs, 

 is a native of Malacca, and forms one of the orna- 

 ments of the extensive collection of the Kev. F. W. 

 Hope. It enters into Serville's first section of the 

 family, the four posterior thighs being furnished with 

 a membrane at the tips ; but the unarmed structure 

 of the head and eyes will not allow it to be referred 

 to any of the genera (or rather subgenera) which he 

 has proposed ; Mr. West wood has, therefore, considered 

 it proper to give it a new subgeneric name, founded on 

 the dilated form of the prothorax, by which character 

 it appears to connect Empusa and Chseradotes ; Oxy- 

 pilus also, having the head elevated in the middle, 

 forms another link between the species with lobed 

 and those with simple tibiae. 



EMPUSA GONGYLODES. 



PLATE X. Fig. 1. 

 Latr. Serville Mantis Gongylodes, Linn. Roesel. ii. Locusta, 



PL 7 Stoll. Mant. PL 16, figs. 58, 59, 61 Fair. Ent. Syst. 



Drury's Exotic Insects, by Westwood, I PL 50, fig. 2. 



THIS genus is distinguished from Mantis by having 



