584 TEXT-BOOK OF ENTOMOLOGY 



less, it puffs out the thin, loose skin connecting the back of the head 

 with the front edge of the prothorax. The distention of this part 

 probably ruptures the skin, which slips over the head, the body 

 meanwhile curved over until the skin is drawn back from the head; 

 when the latter is thrown back, it withdraws its antennae and legs, 

 and the skin is in a second of time pushed back to near the end of 

 the abdomen; finally, it draws its hind tarsi out of the skin, and in 

 a moment or two more the young locust frees itself, kicks away the 

 cast skin, which resembles a little white crumpled pellet, and which 

 has also been compared to a diminutive mushroom, and walks 

 actively off, sometimes, however, with the cast skin adhering to 

 the end of the abdomen. Before the shedding 

 of the amnion the body and legs are soft and 

 flabby; immediately after, it walks firmly on 

 its legs. All the eggs hatched at least one 

 or more hundreds at about the same time, i.e. 

 before 11 A.M. 



The nymph of Stagmomantis Carolina also 

 sheds an amnion-skin, like that of the locust ; 

 but the embryo before casting it off is much 

 elongated, and probably, like the European 

 FIG. 658. Locust just be- Mantis rcligiosa, the curious elongated embryos 



fore the amnion is cast, en- -, ,-, -, -, , . , ., , . 



larged. Kmerton del. have the same singular habit of suspending 



themselves by threads, as shown in Fig. 554. 



The account by Pagenstecher of the first ecdysis of the European Mantis was 

 so extraordinary that we asked Professor Cockerell to collect the eggs of our 

 Stagmomantis in New Mexico and send them to us. This he has kindly done, 

 writing that he can "hardly recognize a true moult, since all that is cast off is 

 the egg-membrane. In short, Pagenstecher' s account must be not a little fanci- 

 ful, unless our insect differs very much in its development from Mantis religiosa. 

 The main change is that after leaving the egg the thorax enormously elongates, 

 producing a bulging out, and thrusting the head forward." Our observations 

 on the alcoholic specimens fully corroborate CockerelPs conclusions. Pagen- 

 stecher's figure of the embryo appears to be inaccurate. Sharp states that the 

 hatching nymphs remain suspended for some days until the "first change of 

 skin is effected." This so-called "skin" is evidently the amnion. 



The 17-year Cicada, after hatching, is enveloped by the amnion, 

 from which it soon extricates itself, and then drops deliberately to 

 the ground, "its specific gravity being so insignificant that it falls 

 through the air as gently and as softly as does a feather." (Kilev.) 



Other insects, as caterpillars, have room enough to turn around 

 within their shell and to eat their way through the walls of the 

 chorion. 



