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16 8 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



walking very slowly upon their four hind-legs, or sit 

 ting stationary for hours, like the chameleon, waitin 

 for their prey. As soon as they perceive a fly or a 

 caterpillar approaching, they turn their heads on all 

 sides, watching its movements, then they creep to- 

 wards it slowly like a cat after a mouse, until with the 

 rapidity of an arrow, they pounce upon it, and grasp 

 it with their sharp-pointed fore-feet. Having devour- 

 ed their victims, they resume their former position, and 

 sit stationary holding up their forelegs as if in the at- 

 titude of prayer. Hence, the country people of France, 

 assuming that it is engaged in prayer, call this insect 

 " Prie Dieu," the Italians, " Prega Dio," the Germans, 

 " Gottes-Anbeterinn," and the Latin names of il Mantis 

 religiosa, precaria, sancta, superstitiosa, oratoria, men- 

 dica, pauperata," &c, which have been applied to it, 

 are derived from the same superstition. 



In the life of the celebrated missionary, St. Francis 

 Xavier, we read " that when he saw a Mantis holding 

 up its arms in deep devotion, he asked the insect to 

 sing the praises of God, whereupon it chanted a very 

 fine canticle." 



Francis Xavier, styled the Apostle of the Indies, was 

 the son of a noble family, and was born in 1 50G, at the 

 castle of Xavier, in Navarre. A friend of Ignatius 

 Loyola, he early joined the order of Jesuits and went 

 to the eastern coast of Africa as a missionary ; from 



