MANTID^ — SOOTHSAYERS, ETC. 83 



show the spring to be at hand, as Anacreon, the poet, sang ; 

 or else they foretell death and famine, as Caelias, the scholiast 

 of Theocritus, writes ; or, lastly, because it always holds up 

 its fore-feet, like hands, praying, as it were, after the man- 

 ner of their divines, who in that gesture did pour out their 

 supplications to their gods. So divine a creature is this 

 esteemed, that if a childe aske the way to such a place, she 

 will stretch out one of her feet and show him the right way, 

 and seldome or never misse. As she resembleth those di- 

 viners in the elevation of her hands, so also in likeness of 

 motion, for they do not sport themselves as others do, nor 

 leap, nor play, but walking softly she returns her modesty, 

 and showes forth a kind of mature gravity."^ 



The name 3Iantis is of Greek origin, and signifies di- 

 viner. In one of, the Idylls of Theocritus, however, it is 

 employed to designate a thin, young girl, with slender and 

 elongated arms. Praemacram ac pertenuem puellam /ur^rcv. 

 Corpore praelongo, pedibus eiiam prselongis, locustee genus. 



These insects. Mantis oratoria, religiosa, etc., in con- 

 sequence of their having, as Mouffet says, their fore-feet ex- 

 tended as if they were praying, are called in France, Devin, 

 and Prega-diou or Preclie-dieu ; and with us, Praying- 

 insects, Soothsayers, and Diviners. They are also often 

 called from their singular shape Camel-crickets. 



The Mantis was observed by the Greeks in soothsaying ;2 

 and the Hindoos displayed the same reverential considera- 

 tion of its movements and flight.^ 



But, in modern times, the superstition respecting the 

 sanctity of the Mantis begins in Southern Europe, and is 

 found in almost every other quarter of the globe, at least 

 wherever a characteristic species of the insect is found. 



In the southern provinces of France, where the Mantis 

 is very abundant, both the characters of praying and point- 

 ing out the lost way, as above mentioned by Mouifet, are 

 still ascribed to it by the peasantry, as is evidenced by the 

 above mentioned names they know them by. And here, as 

 wherever else this superstition obtains, it is considered a 

 great crime to injure the Mantis, and as, at least, a very 



1 Theat. Ins., p. 988. 



2 Harwood, Grec. Aniiq., p. 200. 



3 Cbamb. Journ., xi. 362, 2d S. 



