78 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



admire the privileges of a stomach in which matter is 

 digested immediately upon entrance, dissolved and made 

 away with. 



The usual diet of the Mantis under my wire cages 

 consists of crickets of different species and varying 

 greatly in size. It is interesting to watch the Mantis 

 nibbling at its cricket, which it holds in the vice 

 formed by its murderous fore-limbs. In spite of the 

 fine-pointed muzzle, which hardly seems made for 

 such ferocity, the entire insect disappears excepting the 

 wings, of which only the base, which is slightly fleshy, 

 is consumed. Legs, claws, horny integuments, all else 

 is eaten. Sometimes the great hinder thigh is seized 

 by the knuckle, carried to the mouth, tasted, and 

 crunched with a little air of satisfaction. The swollen 

 thigh of the cricket might well be a choice " cut " for 

 the Mantis, as a leg of lamb is for us ! 



The attack on the victim begins at the back of the 

 neck or base of the head. While one of the mur- 

 derous talons holds the quarry gripped by the middle 

 of the body, the other presses the head downwards, 

 so that the articulation between the back and the 

 neck is stretched and opens slightly. The snout of 

 the Mantis gnaws and burrows into this undefended 

 spot with a certain persistence, and a large wound is 

 opened in the neck. At the lesion of the cephalic 

 ganglions the struggles of the cricket grow less, and 

 the victim becomes a motionless corpse. Thence, 

 unrestricted in its movements, this beast of prey chooses 

 its mouthfuls at leisure. 



