NOTES ON SOME BORNE AN MANTIDM. 301 



has been prejudicial to the health of any Mantis, though Mr. 

 Marshall {I. c. p. 309) believes that in some cases a prolonged 

 Acrcea diet was the cause of the death of some of his captive 

 Mantidce. It is quite possible that the gaudy Acrseas are more 

 nauseous than the Oriental Danaines; Limnas chrysippus and 

 other species of the same genus are found so rarely in this part 

 of Borneo that I have not been able to experiment with them, 

 which is a matter for some regret, as these are the most gaudy 

 members of the Danaince. I have also tried the experiment of 

 putting several species of butterflies — palatable and distasteful 

 species — into a Mantid's cage all at the same time, and watching 

 to see if any selection was exercised ; but, with the aforesaid 

 exception of Deilemerce, the Mantid always appeared perfectly 

 indifferent in its choice, a Danaine being seized as eagerly as any 

 other species if it happened to get within striking distance. A 

 newly captured Mantis will seize and devour any fluttering insect 

 that may be introduced into its cage, purely, I believe, from sheer 

 ferocity, and I think that in all experiments of this nature this 

 fact ought to be taken into account ; for example, I have seen a 

 newly -imprisoned Mantis pounce on a male Trepsichrois mulciber, 

 and, after nibbling at its head and legs, suddenly nip off the yellow 

 scent-glands which were protruding from the end of the abdomen 

 of the butterfly; the butterfly was then released, recaptured, 

 released again, recaptured again, and finally devoured. Two 

 very strong- smelling Coreid bugs, Mictis longicornis, were intro- 

 duced into a cage containing a species of Hierodula, and much to 

 my surprise were completely devoured. It is recorded in Mr. 

 Marshall's paper, that two bugs, Cyclopelta sp. and Physomerus 

 sp., were never eaten, though often killed, by an Indian Mantis, 

 Hierodula bipapilla; on the other hand, that the Coreid Ano- 

 plocnemis curvipes * was devoured by Baboons. t On the whole, 



* The Coreidce are rather a puzzle to supporters of the mimicry theory ; 

 they all have a very strong and disagreeable odour, just as the brilliantly 

 coloured PentatomicLoe have (cf. Gatacanthus, Chrysocoris, &c), and yet all 

 are cryptically coloured, and many have the leaf-like expansions on legs and 

 prothorax which we are accustomed to associate with palatable cryptically 

 coloured insects, such as Phasmids and some beetles. 



| Another species, Holopterna alata, in spite of its offensive smell, is 

 eaten in the Transvaal by a Lizard, Fowls, and Meerkat. — En. (Cf. ' Zool.,' 

 1902, p. 393.) 



