150 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



[CH. 



CHAPTER X. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MANTES, ETC. 



"Why called Fortune-tellers — Description of the Nidus — Larva — 

 RcescVs Observations — Destroyed by Ants — Combat between Two 

 Mantes — Manner of entrapping its Prey — Superstitious Idea of 

 the Hottentots — Natural History of the Walking Leaf — The Sup- 

 position of the Indians — Its Similarity to a Leaf — Walking Stick 

 Its Habits — Their Eggs — Natural History of the Cockroach — 

 Whence brought — Their Ravages — Manner of laying their Eggs 

 — Natural History of the Eearwig — The Care of the Parent for 

 her Young — Its voracious Habits — Wings of the perfect Insect — 

 Natural History of the Field Bug — Its Young, ^c. 



This singular insect has, from its peculiar atti- 

 tudes, given rise to some superstitious ideas. Mouf- 

 fet tells us, that " they are called mantes, that is, 



fortune-tellers ; either because by their coming 

 they do show the spring to be at hand, so Anacreon, 

 the poet, sang ; or else they foretel death or famine, 

 as Coelius, the scholiast of Theocritus, writes ; or, 

 lastly, because it always holds up its forefeet like 

 hands, praying, as it were, after the manner of their 

 diviners, who, in that gesture, did pour out their 

 supplications to their gods. So divine a creature is 



