228 SYSTEMAT C ARRANGEMENT. 



for enabling them to secure their victims. One of 

 the distinguishing marks of the present family is the 

 great length and thickness of the forelegs, which, 

 owing to the length of the thorax, usually appear 

 remote from the other pairs, and placed near the 

 head. They thus admit of heing extended forwards 

 considerable way from the body, and their struc- 

 ture admirably adapts them for seizing small objects. 

 The thigh, which is the thickest portion, is grooved 

 on its inner edge, and beset with a double row of 

 strong spines ; the tibia is so formed as to close 

 upon it as the blade of a pocket-knife does upon its 

 handle, and being likewise spinous on its interior 

 edge, effectually secures any object that may be 

 within, in a manner somewhat similar to what is 

 practised by that carnivorous vegetable the Dionea 

 muscipula. The efficiency of this implement is 

 shewn not only in seizing small insects, which be- 

 come an easy prey, but in the combats which the 

 Mantidae carry on with each other, for a dexterous 

 application of it decapitates an opponent as expe- 

 ditiously as could be done by a guillotine. In a leg 

 so constructed, the tarsus becomes a very subordin- 

 ate appendage, being short and weak, and apparently 

 unequal to support the body, resembling that part 

 in certain Coleopterous genera (such as Phanceiis, 

 Geotrupes, &c.) where it shews a tendency to be- 

 come obsolete, as its functions are performed by the 

 extremity of the tibiae. These raptorial legs are 

 often equal to the entire length of the body, and in 

 some instances even surpass these dimensions. 



