THE PRAYING MANTIS 



too strong a fortress. But they wait outside for their 

 prey. 



The moment that the young grubs appear they are 

 grabed by the Ants, pulled out of their sheaths, and cut 

 in pieces. You see piteous struggles between the little 

 creatures who can only protest with wild wrigglings and 

 the ferocious brigands who are carrying them off. In 

 a moment the massacre is over; all that is left of the 

 flourishing family is a few scattered survivors who have 

 escaped by accident. 



It is curious that the Mantis, the scourge of the insect 

 race, should be herself so often devoured at this early 

 stage of her life, by one of the least of that race, the 

 Ant. The ogress sees her family eaten by the dwarf. 

 But this does not continue long. So soon as she has 

 become firm and strong from contact with the air the 

 Mantis can hold her own. She trots about briskly among 

 the Ants, who fall back as she passes, no longer daring to 

 tackle her : with her fore-legs brought close to her chest, 

 like arms ready for self-defence, she already strikes awe 

 into them by her proud bearing. 



But the Mantis has another enemy who is less easily 

 dismayed. The little Grey Lizard, the lover of sunny 

 walls, pays small heed to threatening attitudes. With 

 the tip of his slender tongue he picks up, one by one, 

 the few stra"*' insects that have escaped the Ant. They 



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