3 i8 



ZOOLOGY 



Stick and 5. Somewhat related to the locusts are the Phas- 



midae, or stick insects and leaf insects. Many are so 

 extraordinarily like dry twigs as to be very hard to 

 detect, while others, with broad, green wings, almost 

 perfectly resemble leaves. In the early days of ex- 

 ploration, sailors used to tell how, in certain tropical 

 countries, the leaves fell off the trees, but crawled back 

 to their places. Such apparently gratuitous lies were 

 in fact founded on observation, as is the case with many 

 other strange tales of travelers. 



Rather similar to the phasmids, but structurally 

 very distinct, are the Mantidse or soothsayers. In this 

 group the front legs are curiously modified, and are 

 held, as it were, in an attitude of prayer. Consequently 

 the common species of the Mediterranean region 



The praying (Mantis religiosa) has been regarded as a sacred animal, 

 and is known as the " praying mantis." As a matter 

 of fact, its apparently pious attitude merely indicates 

 readiness to spring upon its prey, as a cat springs upon 

 a mouse, and the voracious creature should properly be 

 called the " preying mantis." The mantids are so pe- 

 culiar, that one might well suppose them to be of rela- 

 tively recent origin, but the evidence of the fossils 

 indicates that they are extremely ancient. Like the 





mantis 



From Brehm's " Thierleben" 

 FIG. 114. A praying mantis, its egg mass and recently hatched young. 



