CHAPTER X 



OKTHOPTERA CONTINUED MANTIDAE SOOTHSAYERS 



Fam. IV. Mantidae Soothsayers or Praying Insects. 



Orthoptera with exserted but deflexed head and elongate prothorax, 

 the first pair of legs largely developed, raptorial, the coxae 

 elongate, free, femora and tibiae armed with spines : second 

 and third pair of legs simple and similar ; the tarsi five- 

 jointed, without a pad (arolium) between the claws ; a pair 

 of jointed cerci near the extremity of the body. 



THE Mantidae are an extensive family of Orthoptera, showing 

 extreme variety in the shapes and outlines of the body, and 

 characterised by the very remarkable front legs ; the function of 

 these legs being to seize and hold their prey, which consists of 

 living Insects, Mantidae being carnivorous and highly voracious. 

 The labium is deeply, divided, each half exhibiting a very 

 near approach to the structure of a maxilla ; there is a large 

 membranous lingua reposing on the inner face of the lower lip. 

 The head is quite free from the thorax, its front part being 

 deflexed, and even somewhat inflexed, so that the mouth is directed 

 downwards and somewhat backwards : it is very mobile, being 

 connected to the thorax by a comparatively slender neck, which 

 is, however, concealed by the pronotum. There are two large, 

 prominent eyes, the antennae are frequently very slender, but 

 they sometimes differ according to sex, and in some genera 

 are pectinate in the male ; just above and between their inser- 

 tion are three ocelli placed in a triangle, two above, one below ; 

 between the antennae and the clypeus there is an interval 

 called the scutellar space. In some forms of Mantidae the 

 head assumes most extraordinary shapes ; the eyes may become 



