854 MR. NELSON ANNANDALE ON THE [Dec. 4> 



blue " eye " ringed with black on the inner surface of the femur 

 of the fore limb in this species ; and that the " eye " is concealed 

 when the Mantis is at rest, because the two limbs are held folded 

 together in front of the body. " But when danger threatens," to 

 quote his own words, " the praying Mantis assumes a very peculiar 

 and interesting attitude, which, so far as I know, was first described 

 by Goureau. The long and narrow prothorax assumes a vertical 

 position, so that the body is supported only by its two pairs of 

 hind legs. Under these circumstances the insect widely separates 

 the front pair of legs, giving to its long femora a horizontal position, 

 so that the distal ends of them are directed on opposite sides. In 

 this way the eye-spots, which are situated at their bases, stand out 

 conspicuously and are most obvious, owing to their colour. The 

 tibiae of the front pair of legs are directed vertically upwards. At 

 the same time the insect lifts up its tegmina and unrolls its wings, 

 giving them a horizontal position, and it begins quickly to raise 

 and lower its abdomen, which, rubbing against the posterior edge 

 of the wings at the same time as these continual movements, 

 produces a sound. The Mantis can produce the latter artificially 

 by rubbing its wings against some extraneous object." 



In the ' Entomologist's Record ' for January 1900, Brunner von 

 Wattenwyl calls attention to the markings on the fore limb of a 

 species of Hierodula from Borneo. He speculates as to their 

 origin, but does not assign them a use. 



IV. Alarming Colour and Attitude. 

 A Hooded Locustid (Qapnoptera sp. n. near C. staudingeri). 



Colour. — $ . Body and limbs dull green, marked with dark 

 brown. Tegmina dull green, veined and spotted with dull blue and 

 marked with black. Hind wings pale smoke-colour. Between 

 the head and the thorax there is a rectangular bladder of vivid 

 scarlet. This is habitually concealed beneath the dorsal plate of 

 the prothorax, but can be everted and project behind the head 

 like a hood. When not in use the two corners most remote 

 from its point of origin are inverted. When it was displayed 

 these were everted, apparently by the forcing of blood into the 

 hollow of the structure. S • Similar to female, but considerably 

 smaller. The hood was equally well developed in both sexes. 



Habits and Attitude. — The species is not uncommon in the jungle 

 of Nawnchik, Patalung, and Jalor ; but the male is much rarer than 

 the female. I only obtained a single specimen of the former. So 

 far as I know, there is nothing peculiar about the habits of this 

 species when it is left to itself, except that the saltatorial legs 

 being less highly developed than they are in most Malayan 

 Locustids, it is unable to take the enormous leaps of forms, like 

 the " Belalang Rusa " or Deer Grasshopper (Mecopoda), which 

 are found in the same environment. When the hooded locust is 

 taken in the hand it makes very little resistance. Leaving the 

 consideration of its peculiar means of defence for a moment, this 



