THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



241 



an individual portion of this meal 

 every five minutes. The remains of 

 the feast consisted of wings and other 

 portions which were discarded as un- 

 palatable. At the termination of this 

 greedy procedure the mantis com- 

 menced to clean off the remaining food 

 particles adhering to the spines on its 

 forelimbs by passing these appendages 

 and also its antennae and hind legs 

 through its jaws. 



BREEDING. 



During the mating season, which 

 occurs about midsummer, an extra- 

 ordinary substitute for divorce is re- 

 vealed to us. The female mantis 

 calmly, and with apparent relish, de- 

 vours her own husband. The male, 

 docile creature that he is, makes no 

 attempt to resist his mate in her some- 

 what gruesome expression of affection, 

 but allows himself to be slowly criniched 

 and consumed in small mouthfuls, a 

 sordid spectacle of which the writer 

 has been more than once a 

 witness. Then, too, the lady mantis 

 is polyandrous, and may devour several 

 consorts in the same breeding season. 

 When the time is ripe for the deposi- 

 tion of her eggs, the female mantis 

 rests on a twig, usually with her head 

 towards the earth. From the ex- 

 tremity of her abdomen issues a 

 greyish volume of foamy matter. This 

 frothy substance is full of minute air- 

 bubbles, and, as it issues forth, two 

 lateral processes situated on each side 

 of the abdominal tip churn it up until 

 the soft nest gradually begins to form. 

 Within two minutes of delivery the 

 material becomes transformed into a 

 hard parchment - hke porous mass. 

 The slow turning of the tip of the ab- 

 domen during the hardening is instru- 

 mental in moulding the oval outline 

 of the gradually forming case or nest, 

 the building of which occupies a period 

 of about two hours. The mantis 

 stands on all six legs during these 

 actions, and is not disconcerted by an 

 occasional jolt from an inquisitive ob- 

 server. Ordinarily she is practically 

 motionless except for a slight rocking 

 movement as the eggs are being laid 

 and packed in the foam. Just how 



they are laid and put into position 

 baffles explanation, yet the eggs are 

 plainly visible to one facing the head of 

 the mantis and looking along the under 

 surface of the body. When the nest 

 has reached its reciuired dimensions, 

 the extremity is often produced by the 

 mantis into a curved tail as she moves 

 slowly away from her handiwork. 

 No further attention is now ])aid to the 

 finished structure by the maker, for 

 the writer has seen a large grasshopper 

 pounce on to a nest immediately after 

 its completion and bite deeply with its 

 strong mandibles into the papery 

 covering, the artificer standing barely 

 two inches away, ap])arently quite 

 unconcerned about the outrage. 



THE NEST. 



The nest itself is a marvel of archi- 

 tecture and is likely to be found in the 

 bush attached to anything with a 

 rough surface. It is an egg-shaped, tough, 

 ])ithy structure a little over an inch in 

 length, and of a dirty cream colour. 

 It lies at a slight angle to the surface 



The nest of the Mantis with several young 

 soon after hatching. The cast and shrunken 

 skins of the Insects may be seen as small, 

 white, bubble-like structures adhering to 

 the surface. 



[Photo. — A. Miisgrare. 



