198 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Family MANTID^. 



This family is composed of elongate, slow moving insects, the most 

 noticeable character of which is the possession of a long, slender pro- 

 thorax with the first pair of legs so modified as to be fitted for grasp- 

 ing and holding their prey. The old name given to the group was 

 therefore Raploria or graspers. The head is large, oblique, loosely 

 joined to the prothorax in such a manner as to be freely mov- 

 able; the antennae are slender, and rarely as long as the body. The 

 ocelli are present and three in number. The pronotum is longer than 

 any other segment. The abdomen of the female is much broader 

 than that of the male, and is without a visible ovipositor. The fore- 

 legs are stout, raptorial and terminate in a single claw which, with 

 the five-jointed tarsi, is placed in a groove on the under side of the 

 spinous tibifc when at rest. .The middle and liind pairs of legs are 

 long, slender, and fitted for slow motion. Tegmina and wings are 

 present, but in the female are often abortive. As with the other 

 non-saltatorial families, ears and organs for producing sound are 

 absent. 



The members of this family have numerous popular names, the 

 most common of which is the "praying mantid," given them on ac- 

 count of the position which they take when at rest or when waiting 

 to grasp another insect. The knees are then bent, and the front legs 

 held as though in supplication. In the Southern States they are often 

 called "mule killers," from the cominnn belief that the brownish 

 liqu.or which they give ofi" from the mmith is fatal to mules. This 

 name is, however, often also applied to tlie "whip-scorpion," a large 

 member of the ordieY Araclinida, whioli iiilialiits the Southern States. 

 Tlie mantids are all carnivorous, feeding principally upon the differ- 

 ent forms of other insects. They are thus in the main beneficial, in 

 this respect differing widely from all other members of the order 

 Orthoptera, unless it be the tree crickets of the genus (Ecanthus, 

 which feed upon plant lice. Tlicy cnpturc their prey by stealth, 

 crawling upon it very slowly, and avIicii witliiit reaching distance, seiz- 

 ing it with a sudden and rapid movement. Like other predatory in- 

 sects, they have very voracious appetites. .\ member of a European 

 species. Mantis religiosa, Avhich was introduced (ni nursery stock in 

 New York State, was observed to eat, in (me day. lliree large grass- 

 hoppers and a daddy-long-legs and then tacided another numtis from 

 which he was separated with difficulty. The eggs of mantids are laid 

 in a curiously formed egg case or "ootheca," which is secreted by the 

 female. 



