THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANTIS. 
T. D. A. COCKERELI 
Dr. D. SHARP, in his admirable work on “Insects” in the 
Cambridge Natural History, vol. v, gives (p. 247) some extra- 
ordinary particulars about the development of Mantis, with a 
figure taken mainly from Dr. Pagenstecher. I have just been 
observing the facts in the case of a mantis found here, and they 
do not, in all particulars, agree with Dr. Sharp’s account, so 
that it seems desirable to draw attention to the matter. The 
eggs removed from the odtheca are elongated and similar to 
those of Acridiidze in general appearance ; the egg covering is 
quite strong but brittle. On removing the young from the 
odtheca, just before the time of hatching, they are found to be 
already attached by threads, as has been described by others. 
Fic. 2. 
Fig. 1 represents one of these young. It is well colored, and 
all its parts are formed; but, as will be seen from the figure, the 
head has a peculiar appearance, and the legs are all close 
together. The general color is pale greenish-yellow, but there 
are conspicuous rosy dorsal markings ; the internal fluids are 
bright green. The eyes are at first sage green, but soon after 
the emergence of the insect they become blackish. Fig. 2 
shows the insect after emergence, when it is hanging by its 
‘thread. The thorax begins to elongate, with the natural result 
of forming a hump and bending the head forward. In this way 
is developed the little mantis, which is much longer than the 
emerging form, almost wholly by the elongation of the thorax. 
In my species the insects certainly do not hang for “some days,” 
since examples which hatched out yesterday, at the earliest, 
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