Ran — The Biology of Stagmomantis Carolina. 37 



one was promptly introduced but no mating occurred; 

 the next evening he was found dead, but the death ap- 

 parently had been a natural one. Aug. 27, 7 A. M. an- 

 other was introduced, but he too was immediately de- 

 voured; his successor promptly met with the same fate 

 at 4 P. M. — the third victim of this female's voracity. 

 No more males could be secured until Sept. 1, when at 4 

 P. M. one was introduced only to be devoured in less 

 than two hours. Two more were promptly added; by 

 9:30 one of these had mounted the female, but actual 

 copulation had not begun. This condition continued un- 

 til midnight of the 2nd, but at 6 the next morning the 

 male was found dead. Twenty-four hours later a large, 

 newly-made egg-case, the second for this female, was 

 found and already she was again carrying the male, but 

 without mating. This performance continued all day 

 of the 4th and 5th, but the next morning revealed that 

 this male also had been devoured. No more mates 

 could be supplied, so the female lived alone until her 

 death Sept. 10. 



In addition to the foregoing complete experiments, 

 the following fragmentary observations will contribute 

 to our knowledge of this subject. 



A male going through its last moult and becoming 

 adult on Aug. 22, mated in the evening of the following 

 day at the age of about thirty hours. 



On one occasion an old male and three females were 

 taken at random and placed in a cage. None of the fe- 

 males paid any attention whatever to him, so after six 

 hours he was removed and an active young male which 

 had voluntarily come to the cage was placed inside. In 

 a short time one of the females mated with this one, 

 while the other two assumed a furious attitude, erected 

 their heads, curled their abdomens, raised their wings 

 and occasionally leaped angrily at the pair. The couple 

 was soon isolated to prevent any calamity. It is inter- 

 esting that these three females all disregarded the first 



