THE DEVIL'S RIDING-HORSE (MANTID.E). ii 



In repose, be it observed, the three principal portions 

 which go to make up the leg are all folded back the one 

 upon the other, and obtain concealment beneath the 

 prothorax ; the cox^, in contact with each other, being- 

 enclosed between the under side of the prothorax and 

 the femora. 



The front legs may likewise assist their owners in 

 walking, as the existence of 

 normal tarsi betokens, and the 

 sharp claw of the tibice may 

 even be useful in climbing the 

 trunks of trees, but the principal 

 function of these limbs is as a 

 powerful weapon for the capture 

 of prey. 



The intermediate and pos- 

 terior pairs of legs are without 

 distinction — slender, generally 

 long, and fitted only for walk- 

 ing ; normally cylindrical, they 

 sometimes are provided wuth 

 membranous lobes of variable 

 form. 



Next to the enlarged front 

 legs, with their adaptation to a 

 particular end, the most striking lineament of these 

 insects is the long prothorax, it being the longest 



Fig. 4. — A stick-like Mantis 

 [L^p/ocola gracilinia) with atro- 

 phied wings. 



