1910.] NEW INSTAXCE OF ANT-MIMICRY. 839 



backgi'ound. The whole of the iinderside of the body was black ; 

 the legs of the anterior pair were also mostly black, except for 

 pale annulations on the tibia and taivsvis. Two factors were in 

 the main concerned in eiiecting the likeness to an ant, namely, 

 the blackness of the underside of the abdomen, and the habit of 

 the Mantis, when in motion, of curling the posterior half of the 

 abdomen up like a Scorpion's tail. It resulted from this action 

 that the abdomen was in appeai'ance reduced to about half its 

 real length, its shape being altered to an elongated oval, and 

 since its anal end was brought as far forwai-ds as the posterior 

 extremity of the prothoi'ax, completely covering the metanotal 

 and mesonotal terga, the black of its underside formed with the 

 black of the prothorax a continuous field only broken by the 

 white spot on the prothorax, which, being situated at the nar- 

 rowest part of the body, exactly simulated an ant's waist. The 

 long and powerful fore legs were extended forwards in crawling, 

 their annvilated distal ends projecting some distance in front of 

 the head on each side, so as to resemble the waving antennae of 

 an ant. 



" The above described coloration persisted until the Mantises had 

 attained a length of about 7 mm. At the next moult a remarkable 

 change took place, the prothorax losing entirely its black colour, 

 and with its loss the resemblance to the ants disappeared. 



" An apj)arently similar case of ant-mimicry by the larva of an 

 Indian species of Mantis has been described by de Niceville in a 

 letter to Prof. Poulton {see Shelford, P. Z. S.'l902, vol. ii. pt. 2, 

 p. 232). The Mantises were said to be remarkably like a small 

 black ant ; the deceptive resemblance was so close that careful 

 scrutiny was necessary to distinguish the true chai'acter of the 

 insects. Although de Niceville gave no particulars as to the way 

 in which the mimicry was achieved, he noticed that the young 

 Mantises were incessantly moving, just like the ants they mimicked 

 but quite unlike the adults of their own kind. Shelford also 

 recorded an instance observed by himself at Kuchong of mimicry 

 between a Hnrpagid Mantid (Ili/menopus bicornis) and a young 

 larva of a distasteful Rediiviid bug [Eulyes amcena)." 



[^Additioval note, added June Xbth, 1910, on the mimicry of 

 the larva of the Ceylonese Leaf-Insect (Phyllium sp. ?). — Dr. A. 

 Willey, F.R.S., on his return from Ceylon, bi'ought a number of 

 eggs of this insect as a present to the Society. The young upon 

 hatching wei'e seen to difter remarkalily in colour from the adults. 

 The head, thorax, and antei'ior part of the abdomen were crimson, 

 the posterior part of the abdomen being much darker and browner 

 in hue and the legs black. The crimson and black coloi'ation 

 made these insects extremely conspicuous on green leaves, and 

 their general appearance was remarkably ' bug '-like. Their 

 scheme of coloration fitted unmistakably into that depicted and 

 described by Shelford (P. Z. S. 1902, vol. ii. pt. 2, pi. xxiii. 

 figs. 1 , 2, 3) as illustrated bvtwo species of bugs [Eciatops rubHaceus 



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