TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 23 



contraction and expansion of its 

 flexible body — similar to the shed- 

 ding process of a snake — ^frees 

 itself entirely of all its" former 

 hulls. The latter are nicely seen 

 on this photograph — about half 

 way stripped of its new anatomy 

 — ^the lower dark outlines with the 

 characteristic hairy integumental 

 covering (a) and (b) being grad- 

 ually peeled off and folded up at 

 the base part (ab) of the new 

 beetle's abdomen, when the thus 

 "newborn" little fellow is about 

 "ripe" to escape into the world — ■ 

 after further evolution of its tho- 

 racic organs, the wing parts and 

 other of its anatomy. Some out- 

 line of the (ringed) abdomen of 

 this maturing tobacco beetle are 

 quite plainly seen through the 

 dark outlines of the old hull (b) 

 and the developing feet (c) and 

 two antennal appendages — the 



jointed and curved organs (d) at 

 the head parts (e) with both dark 

 eyes with lens, and the thoracic 

 outlines (f ) are quite conspicuous. 

 The entire process resembles some- 

 what the shedding process of cer- 

 tain hairy caterpillars (larval 

 butterflies) and other forms of 

 insect life, including the vast 

 numbers of all genera of beetles. 



"When I first detected this speci- 

 men it showed life, but its move- 

 ments were very feeble and hard- 

 ly perceptible, mainly from ex- 

 posure, perhaps. It was found 

 snugly imbedded between some of 

 the cigar foldings, in a furrow 

 similar to the larvae found and 

 described and illustrated by the 

 writer in the June issue of The 

 Guide to Nature, but it is a much 

 further advanced pupal state than 

 the one seen in the previous speci- 

 men of the single cigar specimen. 



The Texas "Devilshorse" or Mantis Insect and Its 



Breeding Nest 



It is a noteworthy axiom in in- 

 sect life that all insects, even 

 those minute species hardly visi- 

 ble to the naked eye, develop from 

 ova or eggs, each ovum undergo- 

 ing a regular cycle of develop- 

 ment, typical to its sex; and the 



sects, but it was only of late that 

 I became aware of the manner in 

 which this mantis insect breeds 

 and develons its offspring. 



It was in the summer of 1911 

 that a friend, a farmer from the 

 Olmos settlement, north of San. 



Young Mantis and Ova- 



genesis.of the devilshorse or man- 

 tis insect makes no exception. It 

 is but little generally known how 

 this peculiar insect does develop. 

 The writer is quite familiar with 

 the breeding history of most in- 



(Magnified one-third) 



Antonio, brought a small, square 

 paper box to my office contain- 

 ing the peculiar breeding nest of 

 a devilshorse and its contents — 

 hundreds of small and slender 

 shaped young ones, in various sta- 



