412 



ZOOLOGY 



252. A MANTIS INSKtT 



resemblance to stalks of 

 grass is amazing. If 

 they only had the sense 

 not to move their legs, 

 their presence wonld 

 never be detected by man 

 or bird. Several mantises 

 are painted veith beauti- 

 ful pink eyefi, like the 

 ocellus in a peacock's 

 tail, on the backs of 

 tlieir wings. One or 

 two cockroaches develop 

 wing-cases of mau\e 

 and yellow, liut nevertheless have all the repulsiveness of their kind. 

 Some of the crickets are enough to make a sensitive person swoon 

 with horror at the sight of their enormous fat bellies and huge square 

 heads. 



Wild hoiiev l)ees are presumal)ly present throughout tlie Protectorate, 

 There are many large solitary carpenter bees, one or two specimens of 

 which produce really handsome insects. There is one very large bee of 

 this "solitarv" kind which is abundantly met with in the well-wooded 

 regions of the Protectorate where there are j)leiity of tiowers. This 

 creature is nearly the size of the smallest bird, and its body is covered all 

 over with golden plush. Wasps of many kinds are met with, but though 

 thev are armed with powerful stings they very seldom take the offensive. 

 The mason wasp makes itself rather a nuisance if one lives in a house, 

 iiecause it is constantly making clay nests on the backs of one's books 

 or wall ornaments and stufhug them with moribund grubs and caterpillars. 

 In addition to this habit, the mason wasp, when he, or rather she, visits 

 your dwelling, makes such a fidgety booming and buzzing that you are 

 compelled to take notice of her proceedings and flick at her with napkins 

 and handkerchiefs. 



Ants, of course, are found in legions, except on the cold plateaux. There 

 is the tiny kind which gets into one's sugar and biscuits; there is a fierce 

 black ant in the forests and a red tree ant (both of which bite with great 

 ferocity and attack one unprovoked); and there is one ant, a large one, 

 living in twos and threes, which is worse than all the other ants put 

 together, for it produces the most appalling stench, especially after rain has 

 fallen. If by accident you tread on one of these ants and crush it, the 

 smell whicli results is so skunk-like that you are obliged to avoid the 

 locality where the deed has taken place for some hours unless you want 



