6 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS. 



title that heads this chapter. In reahty a more atrocious 

 little savage could not be found — it lives by rapine ; its 

 tastes are essentially carnivorous. It is as observant and 

 quick as a monkey, as sly and stealthy as a cat : it is the 

 tiger, not the saint, of the insect world. Its so-called 

 devotional attitude (see Fig. 2) is simply nothing but a 

 lying in wait for what the gods may send in the shape of 

 food. Establishing itself, as if in rapture, upon some twig 

 or leaf, it will remain thus absolutely stationary, prepared 

 to seize any unwary insect that may fall within convenient 

 reach. After it exhibits a wonderful degree of patience, 

 let us say an insect happens to alight within a short 

 distance of it. Instantly it catches sight of the new- 

 comer, and begins, with slow, silent tread, to steal 

 towards it. So imperceptible the motion, it can only 

 be appreciated by steady and prolonged watching. At 

 the same time the fore legs, which up till now had been 

 bent back upon themselves, commence to open. Little 

 by little, the hunter creeps near its unconscious prey, 

 its goggle eyes staring upon this object of absorbing 

 interest. At last it is close enough to strike ; and, with 

 celerity of movement the eye cannot follow, a formidable 

 foreleg is shot out to its full length, and brings back 

 the victim, hopelessly secured and crushed between the 

 shank and thigh, and scarcely more than a moment is 

 lost ere the body is torn to pieces and devoured. 

 Again the mantis assumes its ecstatic mood, in readiness, 



