164 ZOOLOGY. 



The wings of this family are generally better developed in the male 

 than in the female, and the latter has a wider abdomen, with one or 

 two segments less than in the male. The eggs are contained in a capsule 

 resembling a small bean, with one edge serrulate, and this the female carries 

 at her abdomen for some time. 



These insects are nocturnal, hiding by day and roaming about in search of 

 food at night. In houses they are most abundant about fireplaces. They 

 infest ships, which have distributed several species over the world, so that 

 it is difficult to tell the original country of some of them. In tropical regions 

 they are extremely troublesome, from their voracity and their numbers. 



Fatn. 3. Mantidoß {figs. 90, 91). Body lengthened, prothorax longer 

 than in the remaining thoracic portion, anterior feet raptorial, tarsi five- 

 articulate, antennge sometimes pectinate, apex of the abdomen with two 

 slender appendages. They are carnivorous, and seize their prey with the 

 anterior feet. The wings are horizontal, and the elytra in the males are 

 larger and narrower than in the females. They remain stationary, waiting 

 for their prey, their prothorax and raptorial feet raised as if in the attitude 

 of supplication, whence they have been called praying insects, and Mantis 

 rellgiosa {jd. 80, fig. 90) has received its trivial name from this circum- 

 stance. They are pugnacious, and when confined together will eat each 

 other. The Chinese make them fight for amusement, and it often happens 

 that one will cut ofi" the head of its antagonist by getting its neck within 

 the grasp of one of its raptorial feet. The eggs are deposited in a single 

 body, and covered with a gummy mass which hardens in the air. The egg 

 mass of Mantis Carolina, of the Southern united States, will serve as an 

 example. In Mnpusa {E. gongylodes., pi. 80, fiy. 91), the antennae are bij)ec- 

 tinate in the male, and setaceous in the female. This genus is remarkable 

 for the leaf-like expansions upon the feet. 



Fam. 4. Phasmidce {pi. SO, figs. 89, 92). Here the elytra are rudimen- 

 tary, the prothorax shorter than the remaining thoracic portion, the antennae 

 setaceous, all the feet ambulatory, and the tarsi are usually pentamerous. 

 These insects are phytophagous, and live upon trees ; and they present some 

 very curious forms. Some species have wings, whilst others have not the 

 least rudiment of them. In the species which have large wings their 

 anterior margin is thickened, and covers the inner fan-like portion like the 

 outer stifi' edge of a fan. Some of these have been named walking-sticks 

 from their resemblance to a stick. Cyphocrana gigas {fig. 92, from the 

 Moluccas, is ten inches long. The foliaceous expansions upon the feet of 

 the genus PhylUum {P. siccifoUum^fig. 89), and the shape and color of the 

 wings, give it the appearance of a leaf, whence its scientific name, that of 

 walking leaf, sometimes given to it in English. 



Bacteria femorata, figured in Say's American Entomology, is found from 

 Pennsylvania to Carolina, upon chestnut trees, the leaves of which it eats. 

 The eggs resemble certain seeds ; they are mature in autumn, and they are 

 probably laid upon the ground. This is generally a rather rare insect, but 

 Dr. Hiester has discovered that they occur in great numbers in the 

 Monocasy hills in eastern Pennsylvania. He says : " In the latter part 

 368 



