MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 641 



ants, so after turning them out I painted a line of Stockholm tar round 

 the outside of the box, and this kept them out alright until we arrived in 

 Bombay, when I handed the lizard and her eggs over to the Society's 

 Museum. I shall be much interested in hearing if they hatch out but the 

 sea air, I am afraid, may have been too much for them. 



F. H. S. STONE. 



Bombay, 9fA July 1913. 



[Unfortunately the lizard died shortly after it arrived, and the two eggs shrivelled 

 up.— N. B. K.] 



No. XXXVII.— THE CONTENTS OF A MAESH CROCODILE'S 

 {CROCODILUS PALUSTRIS) STOMACH. 



On the morning of 28th April 1913, I shot a 9 feet Crocodile in the River 

 Weinganga, Central Provinces, and on examining the contents of its 

 stomach, I found a fair sized pig, in portions, but still undigested, a pair 

 of metal bracelets and a leaden ball of about f inch in diameter. 



C. R. PITMAN. 

 Dera Ismail Khan, 7t7i August 1913. 



No. XXXVIII.— MARSH CROCODILE {CROCODILUS PALUSTRIS) 

 KILLING A PANTHER {FELIS TARDUS). 



While in camp on the banks of the River Weinganga in the Central 

 Provinces some villagers one day, the 27th of March, brought me a half- 

 grown panther measuring about 5'-6" that they had picked up dead near 

 the river and which from the nature of the wounds on it had undoubtedly 

 been killed by a crocodile. 



C. R. PITMAN. 

 Deba Ismail Khan, 7th August 1913. 



[Sir E. Tennant in the Natural History of Ceylon gives an amusing acoount of a 

 panther falling a victim to an Esturiae Crocodile {Grocodilus porosus) — Eds.] 



No. XXXIX.— NOTE ON THE LIFE-HISTORY OF A PHASMID. 



(With a Plate.) 



There is very little on record regarding the life-history and habits of 

 Indian Phasmidse ; perhaps the only insect of the group about which some- 

 thing is known is Tliyllium scythe. As such, it is believed that this short 

 note on the life-history of one of these insects, however incomplete, will 

 contribute a little to our knowledge of this little-known but interesting 

 group of Orthoptera. 



On the 18th September 1912, by mere chance, I came across a group of 

 eggs deposited on a wooden rafter in the roof of a shed up the hills 

 (2,000 feet) a few miles west of the Coimbatore Agricultural College. When 

 first observed, I had not the remotest idea that these were Phasmid eggs ; 

 they were merely taken for the eggs of some Rhynchotid, and it was only 

 when the nymphs emerged a few days later that their true identity became 

 evident. The reason for mistaking their true nature is due to the fact 

 that most of the Phasmids known and described in books are known to 

 simply drop their eggs singly on to the soil together with their excrement. 



The egys. — The eggs are hard and seed like ; they were found arranged 

 on the wooden rafter in two parallel rows. They were cemented to the 



