296 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



of the fore femora red -brown, blotched with black and pearly 

 white in a small oval patch on the front border. In another 

 dead-leaf-like species (D. shelfordi) the inside of the fore coxa is 

 red throughout its proximal two-thirds, pale bluish in the distal 

 third, the femur has a heavy black blotch about its middle. 

 D. desiccata, preparatory to seizing its prey, invariably behaved 

 like the Hierodula, i. e. the front of the body was raised, and the 

 fore legs drawn up close against the body, and slightly rotated 

 outwards so as to display their inner surfaces. The black and 

 white blotches show up very conspicuously against the red-brown 

 of the rest of the body. The under sides of the elytra in this 

 species are marked on their outer halves with conspicuous white 

 and madder blotches, but these markings are never displayed. 

 D. shelfordi used to adopt a very different attitude when prey 

 approached ; the front of the body would be raised and the fore 

 legs stretched out widely at right angles on either side of the 

 body ; sometimes the elytra would be raised up, and the wings 

 spread out fan-wise behind them,* the Mantis all the time this 

 attitude was maintained swaying slightly from side to side. The 

 under sides of the elytra in this species are bluish grey, with 

 four large fuscous patches, the wings on the costal border are 

 pale yellowish, but otherwise are coal-black mottled with in- 

 numerable fine pinkish- white lines. 



A. still more remarkable appearance is presented by Hestia- 

 sula sarawaca. This little Mantis, when at rest, is very crypti- 

 cally coloured with brown and grey ; its fore femora are produced 

 into large fiat expansions, which causes them to be disc-like in 

 shape ; they are held close together in front of the body, when 

 the insect appears to be of roughly the same diameter through- 

 out, and looks like a piece of wood or excrescence of bark. On 

 the approach of prey, or when irritated, a wonderful transforma- 

 tion takes place ; the prothorax is raised, and the fore legs are 

 spread widely out on either side of it ; the elytra, wings, and 

 abdomen are also elevated, the wings spread out fan-wise ; the 

 front coxse on their inner aspect are a deep crimson ; the plate- 

 like femora are bright yellow, with a black sickle-shaped marking 



* A large species of Gryllacris, common in Indo-Malaya, when irritated, 

 always raises the elytra and wings fan-wise over the back. The European 

 Mantis religiosa " displays " in the same way. 



