Observations on the habits and natural surroundings of insects made during the 'Skeat expedition' to the Malay peninsula, 1899-1900 / by Nelson Annandale.

Nelson Annandale

Date:: 1900

Credit: Observations on the habits and natural surroundings of insects made during the 'Skeat expedition' to the Malay peninsula, 1899-1900 / by Nelson Annandale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$blue “ eye ” ringed with black on the inner surface of the femur of the fore limb in this species ; and that the “ eye ” is concealed when the Mantis is at rest, because the two limbs are held folded together in front of the body. “ But when danger threatens,” to quote his own words, “ the praying Mantis assumes a yery peculiar and interesting attitude, which, so far as I know, was first described by Goureau. The long and narrow prothorax assumes a vertical position, so that the body is supported only by its two pairs of hind legs. Under these circumstances the insect widely separates the front pair of legs, giving to its long femora a horizontal position, so that the distal ends of them are directed on opposite sides. In this way the eye-spots, which are situated at their bases, stand out conspicuously and are most obvious, owing to their colour. The tibise of the front pair of legs are directed vertically upwards. At the same time the insect lifts up its tegmina and unrolls its wings, giving them a horizontal position, and it begins quickly to raise and lower its abdomen, which, rubbing against the posterior edge of the wings at the same time as these continual movements, produces a sound. The Mantis can produce the latter artificially by rubbing its wings against some extraneous object.” In the ‘Entomologist’s E-ecord’ for January 1900, Brunner von Wattenwyl calls attention to the markings on the fore limb of a species of Hierodula from Borneo. He speculates as to their origin, but does not assign them a use. lY. Alaemit^g Colotjr ahh Attitude. A Hooded Locustid {Gapnoptera sp. n. near C. staudlngeri). Colour.— 2 • Body and limbs dull green, marked with dark brown. Tegmina dull green, veined and spotted with dull blue and marked with black. Hind wings pale smoke-colour. Between the head and the thorax there is a rectangular bladder of vivid scarlet. This is habitually concealed beneath the dorsal plate of the prothorax, but can be everted and project behind the head like a hood. When not in use the two corners most remote from its point of origin are inverted. When it was displayed these were everted, apparently by the forcing of blood into the hollow of the structure. S • Similar to female, but considerably smaller. The hood was equally well developed in both sexes. Habits and Attitude.—The species is not uncommon in the jungle of Nawnchik, Patalung, and Jalor ; but the male is much rarer than the female. I only obtained a single specimen of the former. So far as I know, there is nothing peculiar about the habits of this species when it is left to itself, except that the saltatorial legs being less highly developed than they are in most Malayan Locustids, it is unable to take the enormous leaps of forms, like the “ Belalang Rusa ” or Deer Grasshopper {Mecopoda\ which are found in the same environment. When the hooded locust is taken in the hand it makes very little resistance. Leaving the consideration of its peculiar means of defence for a moment, this [18]$