178 ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE 



ORTHOPTERA THAT WALK. 



Cockroaches. 1 - - These insects are known to every 

 housewife. They are most active at night-time, and 

 readily learn the paths leading to the pantry shelf. The 

 eggs are all laid at once, within a brown capsule. (Fig. 

 121.) Many species are wingless. 



Praying Mantis. 2 - - The Praying Mantis possesses 

 many appellations. The fore feet, well developed for 



FIG. 144. Young mantis on lookout for prey natural size. Photographed 

 from life by M. V. Slingerland. 



grasping, the elongate prothorax and prominent head, 

 capable of rotary motion, certainly give these insects, 

 to say the least, a strange appearance. They are rather 

 sluggish in their movements, except when an approach- 

 ing fly reaches a point within their grasp. All these 

 insects are carnivorous. The eggs are laid side by side 

 until they form a mass upon some object such as a fence- 

 board, rail, or limb of a tree. The young escape 

 readily, leaving the egg-mass in form but showing 

 the openings from which the insects come. The mantis 

 family vary in color from dark brown in some to light 



1 Family, Blattidce. " Family, Mantidce. 



