149 
ee eaves PRAYING MANTIS REPORTED FROM 
E BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
By Georce P. ENGELHARDT 
Curator, Department of Natural Science, Brooklyn Museum 
The finding this spring of an egg mass of the praying mantis 
(Paratenodera sinensis Saussure) promises to add to the insect 
fauna of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden a creature more grotesque 
and more ferocious in appearance than any other found there 
before. To the uninitiated a surprise encounter with this new- 
comer among the shrubs and flowers of the Garden certainly 
should prove a startling experience, but let us assuage at once 
any feeling of apprehension, for the creature is perfectly harm- 
less; in fact it is a beneficial insect which preys upon all sorts of 
other insects, and as such should be entitled to at least a benevolent 
consideration. 
The accompanying illustration (Fig. 11) is reproduced from a 
photograph of specimens of imagos presented to the Botanic 
Garden by Mr. William T. Davis, and egg-case collected in the 
Garden by Dr. Gager, and will serve to acquaint the reader with 
the general appearance of the insect in question. But this may 
not suffice to make clear to all its proper place in the insect world. 
Who, for example, not versed in the subject would guess that its 
nearest relatives are to be sought among the Orthoptera, an order 
which includes so incongruous an assemblage as the grasshoppers, 
roaches, and walking-sticks? At any rate, thus associated, we 
find that our new friend belongs to the Mantidae, the only family 
of the order Orthoptera of which all the members are carnivorous. 
The representatives of mantids native to North America are but 
few in species and insignificant in size when compared with the 
great variety of large creatures from tropical countries. Mantts 
argentina, from South America, is so large and powerful as to 
be able to seize and eat small birds. Another species native to 
Central Africa resembles so closely the brilliant flowers of a plant 
as to beguile ue capture insects that visit the blossoms. This 
mantis, known as “ devil’s flower,” furnishes a striking example of 
the phenomenon of aggressive resemblance. 
