R. M. DeCoursey.
The European Mantis, Mantis religiosa (Linne), in Connecticut.
Psyche 58(4):158, 1951.

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THE EUROPEAN MANTIS, MANTIS RELIGIOSA (LINNE) , IN CONNECTICUT. -At the time Dr. Nutting published his survey on the distribution of the European mantis in New England, (Psyche, 57:28, 1950) only one specimen was recorded from Connecticut. This single specimen was listed as possibly from Connecticut, without data. During the summer of 1951 the author collected four males and eight females of this species at Storrs, Con- necticut. The first was a full grown nymph collected in meadow grass on August 12. It transformed into an adult female a few days later. The following adults also were collected :
On Aug. 13, two males and a female; Aug. 19, one fe- male; Aug. 29, one female; Aug. 21, one male and one female; Sept. 12, one female; Sept. 14, one male; Sept. 15, one female; Sept. 16, one female. Most of the specimens were taken in fairly tall grass in a meadow, but one female was taken on a huckleberry bush at the edge of a wooded area and one male on the campus at the University of Con- necticut. Mr. Franklin B. Lewis also collected a male specimen on the campus. The males fly readily and probably their dispersal is greater locally than that of the females. Two egg masses were found in the field on Sept. 13. They were deposited on grass six or eight inches above the ground. Several egg masses were obtained from caged mantids.
One of the captive males was eaten by the female after copulation. The preferred food of these mantids in cap- tivity appears to be small long-horned grasshoppers (Con- ocephalinae), although they will feed on various species of grasshoppers. They have been observed to eat specimens as large as Neoconocepha,Ius (Copiphorinae) and false katydids (Phaneropterinae). They consistently refused to accept specimens of the Pentatomidae, order Hemiptera.- R. M. DECOURSEY, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Corn.



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