1910.] ox A -NEW INSTANCE OF ANT-MIMICRV, 837 



June 14, 1910. 



Dr. S. F. Harmer, M.A., F.ll.S., Vice-President, 

 in tlie Cliair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions mside 

 to the Society's Menagerie during the niontli of May 1910 : — 



The registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the 

 month of May were 130 in number. Of these 80 were acquiied 

 by presentation, 13 by purchase, 23 were received on deposit, 

 3 in exchange, and 1 1 were born in the Gardens. 



The total number of departures during the month, by deatli 

 and by removals, was 156. 



Amongst the additions special attention may be called to the 

 following : — 



One Leopard Cat {Fells heiiyaleusis) and one j\[asked Paliu- 

 Civet {Paradoamras larvcdas), from Szechuen, China, presented 

 by W. Thurlow-Lay, Esq., on May 23rd. 



Two Hunting-dogs {Lycaon pictus), from Xairobi, presented by 

 H. H. Heatley^Esi]., on May 23rd. 



One Caracal {Felis caracal) S , one Chapman's Zebra, (Uquus 

 chapmanni) S , and two Selous's Marsh -Buck {Limnotragus 

 selousi), from Lake Ngami, purchased on May 7th. 



One Sabre-hoi-ned Oryx {Or//xalga,iel),ivoin ISTorthern Nigeria, 

 presented by Sir Hesketh Bell, on May 8th. 



Two Ludwig's Bustards (Oi/s ladtrigi) and two Vigors's Bustards 

 {Otis vlgorsi), new to the Collection, from S. Africa, presented by 

 Sir Charles B. Elliott, K.C.M.G., on May 14th. 



Two Mantchiu-ian Cranes (Ctths ja2)onensis), from N. China, 

 juu'chased on May 23rd. 



Mr. R. I. Pocock, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Superintendent of the Gardens, 

 exhibited two drawings (text-fig. 82) illustrating an instance of 

 ant-mimicry by the larvas of a species of Mantis, and remarked : — 



" In May of this year Mr. W. H. Boyle sent to the Society's 

 Gardens, from Axim on the Gold Coast, the nest of a species of 

 Mantis. The nest was about the size of a walnut but less regularly 

 shaped, and pale emerald-green in colour, with a glistening sugary 

 appearance. The day after it was placed in the Insect House, the 

 young insects emerged. They were 4 mm. or less in length, and 

 when ciuwling about the case looked exactly like a crowd of black 

 ants, their rapid darts and pauses recalling iiresistibly the busy 

 method of progression so characteristic of these Hymenoptera. 

 When at rest they no longer resendjled the models tliey imitated 

 when, in motion, but assumed the attitude of a,dult Manti.^es 

 watching for prey, raising the fore part of the body and head, 

 folding up their fore legs, and (ivery now and then swaying gently 

 from side to side as if rocked by the Avind. While thus em- 

 ployed, they were seen to be procryptically coloured. The long 



Proc. Zool. See— 1910, No. LY. 55 



