244 
Psyche 
[June-September 
Females produce perfectly normal oothecae in the rearing cages. 
These are long and they hang down from the substrate to which they 
are attached by a long stalk. We removed oothecae from rearing 
cages, dated them and put them in 8oz clear plastic tunblers to 
hatch. To allow the pronymphs to emerge normally and complete 
their first molt on the outside, the ootheca must be attached to the 
lid of the hatching cage so that it can hang downwards, surrounded 
by free space. We tried various methods of attaching the ootheca 
stalk to the lid. This can be done with adhesive tape, but the small, 
fragile nymphs may stick to the exposed edges of the tape. It is more 
satisfactory to pass the stalk through a small hole and tape it to the 
outside of the lid. No additional moisture was necessary for most of 
the year in Panama, but during the dry season eggs were sprayed 
towards the end of the developmental period. 
The pronymphs develop within the ootheca and at eclosion 
ecdyse to the first instar. They stand on the ootheca for several 
hours before dispersal and are easier to transfer to individual 
rearing cages at this stage. During the first instar they are not 
cannibalistic and can be kept communally but should be separated 
soon after the next molt. 
CULTURE TECHNIQUES. 
Normally mantids will not strike at motionless prey. The first 
three instars were fed exclusively on live drosophiloid flies. Some- 
time during the 4th instar the diet was changed to include live 
domestic crickets, Acheta domestica, supplied by Fluckers Cricket 
Farm, and by the 5th instar, only live crickets were fed. The 
Drosophila sp. were caught over a massive outdoor fruit culture in a 
fine meshed net, which was then placed in a freezer. By trial and 
error we determined the length of time necessary to immobilize the 
flies without killing them, and how long it took for them to become 
active again. The fastest way of introducing the flies into the cages 
was also the simplest. We transferred a quantity of immobile flies 
from the net onto a sheet of paper, and lifting each lid in turn, we 
shook the required number of prey into each cage. At the first instar 
this number was only two or three; towards the end of the fourth 
instar it was about ten. We quickly learned by experience how many 
mantids we could feed before the flies recovered on the paper, and, 
by looking at the cage debris, could tell if the mantids were under or 
overfed. The stage at which we changed the diet to crickets 
