ORTHOPTERA. 



175 



hatched from eggs that had been deposited on her body by one of these flies. The 

 eggs of the mantis are at times infested and destroyed by the singular-looking hymen- 

 opterons parasite, Priomerus pachymerus, with large and serrate hind femora. A second 

 species found in the United States, is Mantis missouriensis, a slender species in which 

 the wings are gray and as long or longer than the body. It is found in the Missouri 

 valley, where it lives among grasses and low vegetation. This insect bears a slight 



FIG. 251. Empusa pauper ata, rear-horses. 



resemblance to Empusa pauperata, a slender species found in the maritime Alps of 

 Europe, and having somewhat similar habits. This latter insect, however, is very 

 handsomely colored. Its body is decorated with' a mixture of most delicate gray, 

 green, white, and violet tints, and the wings of the adult are of a clear sea-green 

 color, the borders and nervures being lilac. 



The JSmpusce have a long leaf-like projection on their heads, short antenna, a very 

 thin thorax, and their legs are ornamented with curious leaf-like expansions. There is 

 also a third and undescribed species of mantis found on the sandy plains along the 



