134 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



spicuously marked, and its sudden display is perhaps 

 disconcerting to enemies ; but the heavy blotches on 

 the wing-covers are not displayed nor are the wings 

 opened. Deroplatys shelfordi extends widely the front 

 legs, and also elevates the wing-covers and wings, so 

 that their startling colours are shown to best advantage, 

 and the insect appears twice its normal size. The 

 same thing, though accentuated by remarkable move- 

 ments and still brighter colours, is shown by Hestiasula 

 sarawaca. 



A further advance is made by an Indian Mantis, 

 Gongylus gongylodes, the habits of which have been 

 described in great detail by Captain C. E. Williams. 1 

 In this species the prothorax is a narrow elongate 

 stalk with a diamond-shaped expansion towards its 

 front extremity ; this expansion on the under side is 

 brilliant azure in colour, the margins tinted with purple 

 and in the centre a coal-black spot. When the Mantis 

 is at rest waiting for its prey it hangs back downwards 

 with the under side of the thorax directed upwards, 

 the prothorax then appears like a flower at the end 

 of a long stalk ; the upper side is coloured green or 

 brown, and the legs have leaf-like expansions upon 

 them, so that when the insect is viewed in this aspect 

 it is protectively coloured and shaped. Captain Williams 

 states that the green Tree Lizard, Calotes, is a formidable 

 enemy of this Mantis, but it is evident that the leaf- 

 like disguise of the insect must protect it to a certain 

 extent from foes approaching it from below, as it 

 rests on twigs back downwards waiting for its own 

 prey. The same authority states that many Butterflies, 

 both Skippers and large Papilios, are captured by this 

 1 Trans. Ent. Soc., 1904, pp. 125-37. 



