840 



MM. NELSON ANNANDALE ON THE 



[Dec. 4, 



expansions of the femur of the posterior limbs had that semi- 

 opalescent, seini-crystalline appearance that is caused in flower- 

 petals by a purely structural arrangement of liquid globules or of 

 empty cells. On the grasping-limbs and on the extremities of the 

 other pairs the absence of this peculiar sheerlWtas compensated for 

 by the translucency of the integument and the tissues — a trans- 

 lucency more proper to Ccelenterates than to an air-breathing 

 insect. The petals of Melastoma polyanthum, the flower with which 

 the Mantis was found associated, are of mauve-pink on the upper 

 surface, slightly darker in tone than that of the limbs of the insect. 

 Their lower surface, and consequently the visible surface of the 

 older flower-buds, is considerably darker than the upper, more like 

 that of the Mantis's abdomen. The leaves are of the same shade 

 of green as the bar across its thorax. The flower was in bloom in 



Fig. 1. 



Pupa of Hymenopus bicornis on inflorescence of Melastoma polyanthum. 

 (Photographed from life.) 



The Mantis is seated in an upright position, with the abdomen flexed back- 

 wards. The photograph represents it as it is seen on a level with the eye, and 

 shows the horn-like eyes of the insect (at the apes of figure), the V-shaped bar on 

 the thorax, the predatory limbs folded in front of the body, the petal-like 

 expansions of the femora of the 2nd and 3rd pairs of legs arranged on the 

 flowers, and the ventral surface and dark tip of the abdomen. The tarsus of 

 the left leg of the 3rd pair is seen stretching out from beneath the expansion 

 of the femur to a seed-iessel of the plant. 



