hitherto corifounded under the Name of Mantis. 5 



Befides thefe diftindions taken from the different parts of the 

 Body, StoU appeals, with reafon, to the remarkable difference of the 

 mode of life. His Spectres, which I name Phafmata, live folely 01=1 ve- 

 getable food. They lay their eggs, like grallioppers, in the earth, the 

 females being furnidicd with a fmall ftile or inftrumcnt for depofuiiig 

 them, of anenfiform figure, and covered by three leaflets,, which are 

 found on the laft divilion of the abdomen. The.Mafites, on the contrary,, 

 confine themfelves entirely to food taken from the animal kingdom;, 

 their falciform hands fcrving them to catch and carry to their mouths, 

 flies', and other infects, which they devour. As to what concerns ti;eir 

 procreation and mctamorphofls— they never lay their eggs in the 

 earth, -but fix them on a twig, ftraw, or blade of grafs, and this in 

 rows and regular mafTes, as Roefelhas very correftly defcribed. /«- 

 fe£ienbel. pt. 4. p. 89. fq. and t. 12. Compare alfo Merian. Surin. 

 Inf. p. 66. Geoffr. Jjif, t. i. p. 399. and De Geer Iitf.^ pt. 3. p. 399. 



It will not be fuperfiuous to add fome remarJcs wliich StoU has 

 omitted, and which fet the difference between the two genera ftill 

 more out of doubt. The antennas of the P/j^/w/^ are fituated on 

 the fides of tlie head, far apart,, andare iuferted^near the eyes: thofe 

 of the Mantes, on tiie contrary, are placed on the forehead near to- 

 gether, between the eyes. The difference of the organs of feeding 

 I fhall explain more at large in the fyflematic defcription of the 

 genera. The thorax, in the firft fubdivifion or family of Pha/mata, is. 

 always extended, and cylindrical : fometimes fet with little thorns, 

 fometimes without thorns j but in the fecond family,, which in ge- 

 neral more refembles the Mantes^ it is fomewhat flattened, and almoft 

 marginated. The Mantes, on the other hand, have all a more or lefs 

 carinated thorax : all thofe of the firft family and fome fmall fpecies 

 of the fecond family have aroundifh thoraxj but in mofl ofthe fecond 



family 



