4 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS. 



fame. It originates in the insects' habitual attitude, 

 that appears devotional ; but appearances are risky 

 things to judge by. For hours they rest motionless 

 upon the four hind limbs in the characteristic posture, 

 with the head raised upon the elongated and semi- 

 erect prothorax, and with the front legs entirely free, half- 

 opened, the joints clasped together, held like uplifted 

 hands in prayer. To our illogical and superstitious fore- 

 fathers, what could this position denote if not devotion ? 

 The name Mantis (diviner, soothsayer, seer, prophet), 

 it is said, was bestowed on the insect by the Greeks, 

 in accordance with the idea that, when in its normally 

 motionless pose, it is engaged in meditation on futurity. 

 Amongst the Turks and Arabs it is of a quasi-sacred 

 nature, and they hold that it prays with its face towards 

 Mecca. One again meets with the notion of its peculiar 

 habit as an act of invocation or piety in the name of 

 Prega-Diou, or Prie-Dieu, as it is called by the Pro- 

 vencals, and in Italy ; in Portugal, it is the Louva Dios ; 

 while the English-speaking nations, somewhat clumsily, 

 dub it the praying insect ; and many more or less similar 

 common names — preacher, nun, saint, suppliant, mendi- 

 cant — applied to it in Southern Europe, testify to the 

 general reverence with which it is regarded. In Lan- 

 guedoc and other provinces, where it is abundant, as 

 indeed at whatever place the superstition prevails, it is 

 deemed a crime to injure it, and at least most culpable 



