PRAYING MANTIS. Ill 



when taken into the hand. In its real dis- 

 position it is very far from sanctity ; prey- 

 ing with great rapacity on any of the smaller 

 insects which fall in its way, and for which 

 it lies in wait with anxious assiduity, in the 

 posture at first mentioned, seizing them with 

 a sudden spring when within its reach, and 

 devouring them. It is also of a very pugna- 

 ceous nature ; and when kept with others of 

 its own species, in a state of captivity, will 

 attack its neighbour with the utmost vio- 

 lence, till one or the other is destroyed in 

 the contest. Roesel, who kept some of these 

 insects, observes, that in their natural con- 

 flicts, their manoeuvres very much resemble 

 those of hussars fighting with sabres ; and 

 sometimes one cleaves the other through at 

 a single stroke, or severs the head from the 

 body. During these engagements the wings 

 are generally expanded, and when the battle 

 is over, the conqueror devours his antagonist. 

 Among the Chinese, this quarrelsome pro- 

 perty in the Mantis, is turned into a similar 

 entertainment with that afforded by fighting 

 cocks and quails : (for to this insect, or 

 one closely allied to it, it is supposed that the 



