844 MK. NELSON ANNANDALE ON THE [Dec. 4, 



Almost as soon as the Mantis had settled itself on the inflores- 

 cence, a small, dark, dipterous insect, of a kind very commonly seen 

 on the flowers of this species of Melastonia, alighted on one of its 

 hinder legs. It was soon joined by others, apparently of the same 

 species as itself. They settled quite indiscriminately on the petals 

 and on the body and limbs of the Mantis. It was then that the 

 significance of the black spot at the tip of the abdomen became 

 apparent, for at the distance of a few feet it was impossible to 

 distinguish it, except by its symmetrical position, from one of 

 these small Diptera. The Mantis made no attempt either to drive 

 off or to capture the small flies, for its motions seemed to attract 

 rather than to repel them. After a short time a larger Dipteron, as 

 big as a common house-fly, alighted on the inflorescence within 

 reach of the predatory limbs. Then the Mantis became active 

 immediately ; the fly was seized, torn in pieces and devoured, not- 

 withstanding the presence of a large crowd of natives who had 

 collected to watch what was happening. I did not see Hymenopus 

 actually catch an insect on its own person ; but very probably this 

 was owing to the short duration of rny observations. The smaller 

 Diptera were unable to discriminate between real and simulated 

 vegetable tissue, and there is no reason to suppose that the larger 

 ones are more intelligent. I was unable to detect any secretion 

 from the integument or any part of the body of the Mantis which 

 might have attracted them. It is quite probable that they acted 

 gratuitously as lures for its prey, in that they made it appear that 

 there was no trap set, if they did not form an actual bait for 

 predaceous insects. 



After the Mantis had been on the watch for some little time, 

 I noticed that the abdomen was drooping slightly and was 

 gradually coming to lie in line with the thorax. As it did so, 

 the brown lines on its dorsal surface came into sight, and they 

 grew more conspicuous the more it drooped. At last, only a 

 very few minutes after I had first noticed this movement, the 

 Mantis gave a sudden leap into the air and alighted on the 

 ground at the distance of several feet from the place where the 

 base of the stem would have been had it leaped from a real bush 

 of the " Rhododendron.''" It then staggered quietly away along 

 the ground. When interrupted in its progress it gave a short 

 jump ; but it was easily recaptured, as its leaping powers were 

 chiefly developed in the direction of jumping to the ground from 

 a height. I was able to watch this drooping of the abdomen and 

 final hasty desertion of the flowers on four separate branches. 

 In each case the process commenced when the flowers began to 

 droop, and occupied, perhaps, two minutes in completion. The 

 droopiug of the abdomen was primarily a preparation for leaping. 

 Of that I have no doubt, for the body was bent again the moment 

 the iusect reached the ground, almost as if it were brought 

 into position by the action of a powerful spring. Whenever the 

 Mantis gave one of its short jumps on the level, the body was 

 previously straightened with almost the same rapidity of action. 



