112 



FRAYING MANTIS. 



following passage in Mr. Barrow's account of 

 China alludes). " They have even ex- 

 tended their inquiries after fighting animals 

 into the insect tribe, and have discovered a 

 species of Gryllus, or Locust, that will attack 

 each other with such ferocity as seldom to 

 quit their hold, without bringing away at 

 the same time a limb of their antagonist. 

 These little creatures are fed and kept apart 

 in bamboo cages, and the custom of making 

 them devour each other is so common, that 

 duiing the summer months, scarcely a boy 

 is to be seen without his cage of Grasshoppers." 

 The Mantis Precaria, is a native of many 

 parts of Africa, and is the supposed idol of 

 the Hottentots, which those superstitious 

 people are reported to hold in the highest 

 veneration, the person on whom the adored 

 insect happens to light being considered as 

 favoured by the distinction of a celestial visi- 

 tant, and regarded ever after, in the light of 

 a Saint. — Barrow, Shaw, and Gregory. 



