358 
REFLEX ACTIONS OF ARTICULATA. 
the vapour : if the same irritation he applied on the other 
side, the reverse movement will take place; and the body 
may be caused to bend in two or three curves, by bringing 
the irritating vapour into the neighbourhood of different parts 
of either side. This movement is evidently a reflex one, and 
serves to withdraw the entrances of the air-tubes from the 
source of irritation; just as the act of sneezing in higher 
animals causes the expulsion from the air-passages of any 
irritating matter, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, which may 
have found its way into them; and we have no reason to 
regard the former as more voluntary than the latter, which we 
know to be purely reflex (§ 342). 
444. Among Insects, we meet with reflex actions yet more 
curious. The Mantis religiosa (fig. 187) is remarkable for the 
Fig. 187. —Mantis Religiosa. 
peculiar conformation of its first pair of legs, which serve as 
claws for seizing its prey; and also for the peculiar attitude 
which it assumes, especially when threatened or attacked. 
Supporting itself upon its two hinder pairs of legs, it rears up 
its head upon the long first segment of the thorax, elevating 
at the same time its large and powerful arms ; and the resem¬ 
blance fancied to exist between this attitude and that of prayer, 
is the cause of the epithet religiosa having been given to it. 
hTow if the first segment of the thorax, with its attached 
members, be removed, the posterior part of the body will 
still remain balanced upon the four legs which belong to it ; 
resisting any attempts to overthrow it, recovering its position 
when disturbed, and performing the same agitated movements 
of the wings as when the unmutilated animal is excited. But 
it will remain quite at rest, so long as it is not irritated. On 
the other hand, the detached portion of the thorax which 
