The Mantis: her Love-making 



like the first. A third succeeds him, per- 

 forms his function in life, is eaten and dis- 

 appears. A fourth undergoes a like fate. 

 In the course of two weeks I thus see one 

 and the same Mantis use up seven males. 

 She takes them all to her bosom and makes 

 them all pay for the nuptial ecstasy with 

 their lives. 



Orgies such as this are frequent, in vary- 

 ing degrees, though there are exceptions. 

 On very hot days, highly charged with elec- 

 tricity, they are almost the general rule. At 

 such times the Mantes are in a very irritable 

 mood. In the cages containing a large 

 colony, the females devour one another more 

 than ever; in the cages containing separate 

 pairs, the males, after coupling, are more 

 than ever treated as an ordinary prey. 



I should like to be able to say, in mitiga- 

 tion of these conjugal atrocities, that the 

 Mantis does not behave like this in a state 

 of liberty; that the male, after doing his 

 duty, has time to get out of the way, to make 

 off, to escape from his terrible mistress, for 

 in my cages he is given a respite, lasting 

 sometimes until next day. What really oc- 

 curs in the thickets I do not know, chance, 

 a poor resource, having never instructed me 

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