NATURAL HISTORY. 



495 



its legs may be easily mistaken for dry twigs. Even the rami- 

 fied veinings of the leaf are preserved on its wings. It is singu- 

 lar that while some insects closely resemble vegetables, some 

 vegetables, as the Orchidacese, should as closely resemble insects. 

 Nearly connected with this insect, is the Praying Mantis, so 

 called from the curious manner in which it holds its fore legs. 



" 



It is very voracious and exceedingly quarrelsome, fighting with 

 the fore legs, which it uses like a sword. In China, the inhab- 

 itants keep them in cages, and set them to fight as in other 

 countries certain barbarians keep cocks for the same purpose. 



Order IV. NEUROPTERA.(P*\\ Nevpov, a nerve ; xrtpov, a wing.) 

 Family. . . LibellulUa}. (Lai. Libellnla, a Dragou-fly.) 



LIBELLULA. 



Depressa (Lat. flattened), the Dragon-fly, 



Well do the DRAGON-FLIES deserve their name. Fierce, 

 voracious, active, and powerful, they are a scourge to the in- 

 sects. Few but the Coleoptera can escape them. They are on 

 the wing nearly the whole day, seizing and devouring flies, spi- 

 ders, and various insects ; nor can even the broad-winged but- 

 terfly escape them : so voracious are they, that when held in 



