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FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF 



motion. Its appearance is really formidable, and its attitude while 

 watching for its prey quite menacing, and on this account it is held in 

 very general and superstitious dread. It is, however, utterly incapa- 

 ble of harming any one ; and, as one of our best friends should be 

 cherished and protected. 



At Figure 04, above, this insect is represented in the full grown 

 state, a showing the female and b the male. It will be seen that they 

 differ materially from each other, the male having a long slender body 

 with long wings, while the female has a broad flat body with short 

 wings. Hence, while the male can fly through the air with greater 

 facility than do our grasshoppers, the female is utterly incapable of 

 performing the same feat, and only uses her wings when in battle 

 with one of her own kind, or when pouncing upon her prey, at which 

 time she hoists them very much as a swan hoists his wings when irri- 

 tated. The difference in the sexes is not apparent till after the third 

 moult, all the young Mantes being very much alike. The general 

 color of the Mantis is grayish-brown though a pale green dimorphous 

 form is quite common. The newly hatched larva is invariably, so far 

 as my observations exteni, light yellowish-brown, though I have seen 

 green individuals after the first moult. The green form is almost en- 

 tirely confined to the female sex, and seems to be the most common 

 color of this sex when full grown; but it is found likewise, to some 

 extent, among the males, as specimens with green legs and partly 

 green bodies are to be met with, though I have never seen a male that 



[Fig. 95.] 



was entirely green. About the beginning of August 

 these Mantes acquire wings, and by the middle of Sep- 

 tember the female commences to deposit her eggs. 

 These eggs are all glued tightly together in a peculiar 

 mass, and are deposited in all sorts of situations, but 

 principally on the twigs of trees. At Figure 95 two of 

 these egg-masses are represented, natural size, the lower 

 mass showing the most common form, the upper mass 

 illustrating how it conforms to the object on which it 

 is placed. These egg-masses are often found by per- 

 sons in the winter, though very few are able to con- 

 jecture what they really are. On cutting them open 

 the eggs are found to be very systematically arranged 

 and to contain a mucilaginous substance of the color 

 of thin glue. 



The manner in which these eggs are deposited has 

 never been described, and though I have never myself 

 witnessed the operation, I have found the mass while 

 it was yet quite soft and freshly laid, and have dissect- 

 ed the female just before she was about to deposit; 

 and incline to believe that it is gradually protruded in 

 a soft mucilaginous state, being covered at the time 



