48 THE CAUSES WHICH PROPAGATE 



savag'e females, and, prevalent in Insecta, finds its vent in 

 cannibal battles. On enclosing' Orthoptera in either the immature 

 or perfect state, the males and females tight in an indiscriminate 

 melee, and then when all is over the female survivors subse- 

 quently gorge the slain, until, bloated and hideous, they can 

 scarcely stir from the spot. 



It is thus the species of Mantis, or AValking" Leaves, poor in 

 defence, find ready weapons in their raptorial forelegs, adapted, 

 in common with those of a Neuropterous and Hemipterous 

 aquatic genus, to forceps for catching' flies as food ; b\xt with 

 Avhich, when at close quarters, they guard and cut as Hussars 

 with sabres, so that, at a stroke, one will often decapitate or 

 cleave another through. The well-known entomologist and 

 miniature painter, Roesel, on enclosing' together a male anti 

 female of the European Prie Dieu, observes : " They threw up 

 their heads, brandished their forelegs, and each waited an attack; 

 nor did they remain long in this posture, for the boldest, throw- 

 ing open her wings with the velocity of lightning, rushed at the 

 other, tore in pieces and devoured him.^"* The leaping Ortho])- 

 tera are equally vindictive with their mandibles. The GrijlluH 

 vwnsfrosus, with its curled wing-cases, is a dire cricket, once 

 seen not easily forgotten. Dobell, in his "Travels in Kamts- 

 chatka,^^ relates, when the Chinese wish to enjoy a Cricket 

 fight, they phice two males in an earthen bowl of six or eight 

 inches in diameter. The owner of each tickles his prize-figiiter 

 ■with a feather, which makes them run round the bowl in different 

 directions, although they frequently meet and jostle each other 

 as they pass. After several such meetings, they at last lose 

 their tempers, and ere long, becoming greatly exasperated, they 

 fight with such fury that both are literally torn limb from limb, 

 The same occurs if males, male and female, or larva? of other 

 species of Cricket, Leaf-Cricket, Cockroach, or Earwig are 

 confined together; wdiile night or gloom, the ancient nurse of 

 fear and mother of all things, predisposes to the conflict. The 

 Lirger Locusts fight in like fashion, and likewise kill themselves 

 by gluttony during their maraudings. 



So wears out the spark of life in all such leaf-like insects, 

 who seem imbued with an animus near allied to that of many 

 a lurking spider, \a ho is known to secretly devour her lover in 



