ORTHOPTERA. 129 



Mix together a table-spoonful of red-lead and of Indian meal 

 with molasses cnongli to make a thick batter, and place the 

 mixture at night on a plate or piece of board in the closets or 

 on the hearths frequented by the cockroaches. They will eat 

 it and become poisoned thereby. The dose is to be repeated 

 for several nights in succession. Dr. F. H. Horner* recom- 

 mends the following preparation to destroy cockroaches. Mix 

 one teaspoonful of powdered arsenic with a table-spoonful of 

 mashed potato, and crumble one third of it, every night, at 

 bedtime, about the kitchen hearth, or where the insects will 

 find and devour it. As both of tiiese preparations are very 

 poisonous, great care should be taken in the use of them, and 

 of any portions that may be left by the insects. 



II. GRASPERS. {Orthoptera raptoria.) 



These, which consist of the Mantes, called praying mantes 

 and soothsayers, from their singular attitudes and motions, and 

 camel-crickets, from the great length of the neck, are chiefly 

 tropical insects, though some of them are occasionally found 

 in this country. Moreover, they are exclusively predaceous 

 insects, seizing, with their singular fore legs, caterpillars, and 

 other weaker insects which they devour. They are, therefore, 

 to be enumerated among the insects that are beneficial to man- 

 kind, by keeping in check those that subsist on vegetable food. 



III. WALKERS. {Orthoptera ambulatoria.) 



To this division belong various insects, mostly found in 

 warm climates, and displaying the most extraordinary forms. 

 Some of them are furnished with wings, which, by their shape, 

 and the branching veins with which they are covered, exactly 

 represent leaves, either green, or dry and withered ; such are 

 the walking leaves, as they are called [Phyllium pulchrifolium^ 

 siccifolium, &c.). Others are wingless, of a long and cylindrical 

 shape, resembling a stick with the bark on it, while the slender 



* Downing's Horticulturist. Vol. 11. p. 343 (Jan. 1848). 



17 



