130 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



fore-femora bright red-brown, blotched with black and 

 pearly white in a small oval patch on the front border ; 

 the under-side of the prothorax is also red-brown, and 

 the under-sides of the wing-covers are blotched with 

 madder and white. In another dead-leaf-like species, 

 Deroplatys shelf ordi, the inside of the fore-coxae are red 

 in the basal part, pale bluish in the apical part, and the 

 fore-femora are heavily blotched with black in the 

 middle ; the under sides of the elytra are bluish grey 

 with four large fuscous patches, while the wings are 

 coal-black streaked with innumerable pinkish lines 

 except along the front border, where the colour is 

 uniform yellow. When these insects are irritated, or 

 when they are excited by the approach of their prey, 

 these brightly coloured parts are exhibited to their best 

 advantage. D. desiccata then assumes the attitude de- 

 scribed in the case of Hierodula : the front part of the 

 body is raised, and the raptorial claws are drawn up 

 against the sides of the prothorax and their inner sides 

 turned to face the aggressor ; D. shelf ordi not only rears 

 up but also stretches out the raptorial claws at right 

 angles to the body and at the same time raises the 

 wing-covers and spreads out the wings like a fan ; if 

 seen with the light behind it the dark patches on the 

 under-sides of the wing-covers are seen through their 

 semi-transparent texture. 



A still more remarkable appearance is presented by 

 Hestiasula sarawaca. This little Mantis, when at rest, 

 is cryptically coloured in shades of brown and grey ; 

 its fore-femora are produced into large, flat expansions 

 which make them almost like circular discs, and when 

 the Mantis is at rest they are held close together in 

 front of the body and the insect" looks like a piece of 



