340 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONHAN INSTITUTION, 1950 



Mantids often stand motionless for long periods, holding their 

 front legs in a folded position ready to catch prey, and peering in- 

 tently at nearby objects. This habit of holding up the folded front 

 legs has given rise to the term "praying" in the common name, and 

 the distinctive attitude of these insects when in such a waiting posi- 

 tion has stimulated the imagination and semireligious beliefs of 

 country people of many lands for several centuries. "Preying" would 

 be more realistic, because the only thing mantids would seem to pray 

 for is a square meal. The name mantis is derived from a Greek 

 word originally meaning a prophet or seer. Either mantis or mantid 

 is an acceptable common name, with mantids being preferred to 

 mantises or mantes in the plural. In some parts of the United States 

 mantids are called "rear-horses," "devil-horses," and "mule-killers," 

 and in the Southwest they are often called "campomoche." 



It is most interesting that tAvo Oriental and one European species 

 of mantids have been unintentionally introduced and are now wide- 

 spread in the Northeastern States- As a farm boy in western Massa- 

 chusetts none of these remarkable insects came to my attention, for 

 no native mantids live there, and the European mantid was then 

 known in this country only in western New York State. Later, near 

 Washington, D. C, I first made the acquaintance of the introduced 

 Chinese mantis and its "cousin" the narrow-winged mantis, as well 

 as the most northeastern of our native species, the Carolina mantis. 

 In 1949 the European mantis was found to have spread to Vermont 

 and Massachusetts, and during 1950, in the same fields I tramped 

 as a youth, dozens of specimens were to be seen in a single day. Hun- 

 dreds of Americans who had never encountered our native mantids 

 have met with these visitors from abroad, have first been amazed at 

 their strange appearance, then have been intrigued by their unusual 

 habits. During fall, most museums and science institutes near areas 

 where mantids occur receive a continual stream of inquiries about 

 mantids from people who have been surprised to find one of these 

 insects or who wish to instruct their children about their habits, 

 worth, or cage-rearing possibilities. 



RELATIVES OF MANTIDS 



In the technical classification of insects the many species of mantids 

 constitute a family called the Mantidae.- Mantids belong to the broad 

 group or order of insects called Orthoptera, which includes also cock- 

 roaches, katydids, grasshoppers, crickets, and walkingsticks. Cock- 

 roaches show closest relationship to mantids, the head shape and the 

 structure of parts of the thorax and abdomen indicating definite affini- 

 ties. The front legs, highly specialized in mantids for seizing prey, 



' Sometimes given as Manteidae. 



