Cocoons, Nests and Eggs 



deposited by the mother mantis, the future egg-case is 

 merely a mass of froth, but the action of the air causes 

 it to harden rapidly. Curiously enough, the last eggs to 

 be laid are the first to hatch, but all hatch within a short 

 time of one another. 



The young mantids, on hatching, push their way out 

 of the egg-case, but do not immediately go out into the 

 world. They first of all spin a silken thread from which 

 they suspend themselves, after the manner of certain 

 young spiders, till they have shed their first coats. A 

 change of raiment seems to embolden the little creatures, 

 for after their moult they leave their nest and start on 

 their nefarious careers as crafty, bloodthirsty cannibals, 

 not even disdaining their own kind, for the female mantis 

 often devours her mate if he becomes too pressing with 

 his attentions. 



The pernicious habit of hen-pecking is not altogether 

 unknown in the insect world. We have just mentioned 

 the mantis, and there is a large South American water- 

 bug which is nearly as bad, though the female does not 

 go quite so far as to eat her spouse. Her nature is more 

 utilitarian. She makes him carry her eggs. Zaitha is the 

 name of this insect, and the female, to rid herself of 

 maternal cares, simply deposits her eggs on her husband's 

 back. He is by no means a willing nurse, for sometimes 

 the couple will struggle an hour or more before the 

 female can accomplish her design, and then her mate 

 seems as much out of place as the top-hatted suburban 

 father who wheels his child about the roads on a Sunday 

 morning, the while his wife prepares the midday meal. 



Miss Slater, who discovered this habit of the Zaithas, 

 says : " That the male chafes under the burden is un- 

 mistakable ; in fact my suspicions as to the sex of the 

 egg-carrier were first aroused by watching one in an 

 aquarium which was trying to free itself from its load of 

 eggs, an exhibition of a lack of maternal interest not to 

 be expected in a female carrying her own eggs. Generally 



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