198 
SPOLTA ZKYLANICA. 
By the next day, 15th January, six young snakes had hatched 
out, of which some died, while others were very active, making 
darts at a cloth held near them. 
The period of incubation lasted exactly two and a half months. 
The young measure from two to two and a half feet long, and 
have now been moved away from the parent into another box, 
where they continue to increase in size without having fed mean¬ 
while. 
Altogether forty-five young have been recovered from the 
clutch. Of these, thirty-six still survive, which I shall attempt to 
rear, feeding them with frogs and small lizards. 
So far as can be ascertained, the parent python measures about 
28 feet in length and weighs 250 lb. 
JOHN HAGENRECK. 
5. Illustrations of Ceylon Orthoptera.-— With the exception of 
certain orders and families, the identification of insects in a 
Colonial Museum is always a matter of difficulty, and is 
frequently impossible owing to lack of the necessary literature 
and of material for comparison. The only way is to send 
collections of particular groups to be dealt with by specialists, 
and this is by no means so simple a matter as might appear. 
The figures here presented for the benefit of local readers 
illustrate four striking types of Orthoptera. 
(1) Gongylus gongylodes. 
The commonest in this country and the best known outside the 
Island is at the same time the most remarkable object in many 
respects. It is the Mantid insect, Gongylus gongylodes , the pictures 
of which are reproduced from%n article by Mr. Percy Collins on 
“ Flower Mimics ” in 44 Knowledge and Scientific News,” vol. I., 
No. 6, July, 1904, by the kind permission and courtesy of the 
editors of that journal. 
When this insect is hanging head downwards amid foliage it 
is said to resemble a papilionaceous flower, the under side of the 
expanded prothorax being brightly coloured, sometimes nearly 
white with a faint bloom. It thus attracts smaller insects, which 
it catches with its raptorial claws. The general colour of the 
insect varies from green to dark brown. I have come across a 
specimen standing motionless like a spectre in the middle of- the 
North road, a few miles beyond Vavuniya. In the first figure on 
the accompanying plates the insect is shown from above ; the 
second figure is a diagram explanatory of the parts composing the 
