282 A HISTORY OF RECENT CRUSTACEA 



its inner edge. Thepleon is depressed and wide; the inner 

 spine of the ventral prolongation from the peduncle of the 

 uropod is longer than the outer; the telson is usually 

 longer than wide, and it has more than four secondary 

 sjoines between the intermediate and submedian marginals. 

 There are numerous species in this genus. Sqidlla 

 mantis received the name which it still bears from the 

 French naturalist Rondelet in the sixteenth century. That 

 author warns his readers that they will not find any 

 account of this species in the older writers, such as Aristotle 

 and Pliny, Athena3us and Oppian. He chose the specific 

 name because of the likeness which this long-armed marine 

 animal shows to the Mantis insect, and he explains that 

 the Mantis or ' soothsayer,' also known in the south of 

 France as the Preguediou or praying insect, derived the 

 latter name from its emaciated devotee-like figure, and the 

 former from the childish superstition that if asked the road 

 to Rome or to St. James of Compostella, it would indicate 

 it by holding out one or other of its arms. He takes the 

 opportunity of observing that his contemporary Bellon has 

 given a very bad drawing of this species, leaving out much 

 that should have been put in, and putting in much that 

 ought to have been left out. Yet Rondelet himself appears 

 to bestow upon the pleon several more segments than it is 

 by nature endowed with. This species is occasionally 

 found in British waters, but is much more common in the 

 Mediterranean, where it is used as an article of food. It 

 attains a length of seven inches. The membranaceous 

 carapace has a longitudinal central ridge, and on either 

 side there are strong grooves. It narrows forwards, and 

 in a specimen six and a half inches long, the carapace, in- 

 cluding the rostrum or movable frontal plate, is about an 

 inch and three quarters long. The eyes have a peculiar 

 hammer-like appearance, being very wide on narrow stalks. 

 The second raaxillipeds have the terminal joint armed with 

 in all six long teeth which can close against pits in the 

 margin of the strong preceding joint. This joint itself has 

 a minutely denticulated border alongside of the pits, and 

 also three movable spines near its base. The outer margin 



