THE MANTIS.— THE CHASE 69 



gesture of invocation. This was enough : popular imagi- 

 nation has done the rest ; so that since the period of 

 classical antiquity the bushes have been peopled with 

 priestesses emitting oracles and nuns in prayer. 



Good people, how very far astray your childlike 

 simplicity has led you ! These attitudes of prayer conceal 

 the most atrocious habits ; these supplicating arms are 

 lethal weapons ; these fingers tell no rosaries, but help to 

 exterminate the unfortunate passer-by. It is an excep- 

 tion that we should never look for in the vegetarian 

 family of the Orthoptera, but the Mantis lives exclusively 

 upon living prey. It is the tiger of the peaceful insect 

 peoples ; the ogre in ambush which demands a tribute of 

 living flesh. If it only had sufficient strength its blood- 

 thirsty appetites, and its horrible perfection of concealment 

 would make it the terror of the countryside. The Prego- 

 Dieu would become a Satanic vampire. 



Apart from its lethal weapon the Mantis has nothing 

 about it to inspire apprehension. It does not lack a 

 certain appearance of graciousness, with its slender body, 

 its elegant waist-line, its tender green colouring, and its 

 long gauzy wings. No ferocious jaws, opening like shears ; 

 on the contrary, a fine pointed muzzle which seems to be 

 made for billing and cooing. Thanks to a flexible neck, 

 set freely upon the thorax, the head can turn to right or left 

 as on a pivot, bow, or raise itself high in the air. Alone 

 among insects, the Mantis is able to direct its gaze ; it 

 inspects and examines ; it has almost a physiognomy. 



There is a very great contrast between the body as a 

 whole, which has a perfectly peaceable aspect, and the 

 murderous fore-limbs. The haunch of the fore-limb is un- 

 usually long and powerful. Its object is to throw forward 



