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Show 1900.] INSECTS OF THE " SKEAT EXPEDITION." 815 Moreover, the upturned position of the abdomen is common to many Mantid larvae, for instance those of several species of Hierodula and Pseudomantis, though in the adults of these forms it becomes an impossible attitude when the insects are at rest, owing to tbe outgrowth of the wings; and these larvae have the habit of leaping to the ground when disturbed on the tree-trunks on which they watch for prey, and always straighten their body before they leap. But that this action has a secondary significance in the case of Hymenopus bicornis is proved by tbe deliberate and gradual way in which it takes place when the insect is seated on an inflorescence. It seems to me that its secondary object is to display the brown lines on the dorsal surface, in order that, as the flowers wither, the flower mimic may appear to wither also. It must be remembered that in the tropics the process of fading, in the case of most flowers, is an exceedingly rapid one. It is difficult, however, if this be the true explanation, to see why the Mantis should leap to the ground when the flowers of a single inflorescence begin to fade, for we can hardly assume that it looks round to see whether other flowers on the same branch are fading also, and Melastoma is not a plant on which all the blossoms naturally fall off at the same time. In the case when it could find no proper concealment on one twig of a branch, the insect did not behave in this way. It is quite possible that its instinct may warn it to seek for other shelter whenever the petals begin to droop, for flowers of this plant close at night and in very bad weather. Under either of these conditions the insect must find it impossible to get its prey, and may be exposed to death from cold or from the violence of the rain, should it remain in an exposed position. Most probably it takes shelter among the undergrowth during storm and dark. When placed in a dark box it deserted the flowers to which it clung while they w7ere plucked from the bush with considerable violence. Malay. Beliefs.-The Kelantan Malays call this insect " Kan-chong," but they consider it so rare that my desire to obtain more than a single specimen was ridiculed as being quite extravagant. I was told that few men ever saw more than one such Mantis in the course of their lives. It was agreed at Aring that the Kanchong is not a " belcdang " ' (the general term in Malay for any Orthopteron which is neither a cockroach, 'Hipas" nor an earwig, " sipit-sipit " ) 2 , but a flower which has become alive. " Its origiu is from the flowers." The blossoms of the " Sendudok " give birth to it, in the same way as the leaves of the " Nanl-a,'' or Jack-fruit tree (Artocarpus integri-folia), give birth to Heteropteryx dilatata, a large prickly Phasmid 1 Belcdang are named after the Lalang Grass (Imperatia koenigii), which affords a favourite shelter to many orthopterous insects. 2 Sipit are the tweezers with which the Malays pluck out the few hairs that naturally grow upon their chins. The reduplication of a word in Malay either gives it a metaphorical sense or turns it into a plural of indefinite multitude. Thus, mata-mata, from mata an eye. means a policeman ; macham is a kind or sort, macham-macham all sorts. |