230 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT. 



made by Dr. Shaw in relation to M. viatoria, b 

 they are equally applicable to the whole tribe : " ! 

 its real disposition it is very far from sanctity, preying 

 with great rapacity on all the smaller insects which 

 fall in its way, and for which it lies in wait with 

 anxious assiduity, in the posture before mentioned, 

 seizing them with a sudden spring when within its 

 reach, and devouring them. It is also of a very pug- 

 nacious nature, and when kept with others of its own 

 species in a state of captivity, will attack its neigh- 

 bours with the utmost violence, till one or other is 

 destroyed in the contest. Roesel, who kept some o 

 these insects, observes, that in their mutual conflicts 

 their mano3uvres very much resemble those of hussars 

 fighting with sabres; and sometimes one cleaves the 

 other through at a single stroke, or severs the heac 

 from the body. During these engagements, the wings 

 are generally expanded, and when the battle is ove 

 the conqueror devours his antagonist." 



This pugnacious disposition is so strong in man\ 

 of the species, that in China and other eastern coun 

 tries, the inhabitants amuse themselves by making 

 them fight like game-cocks. They are kept in sma 

 bamboo cages, and fed on soft skinned insects ; and 

 a set-to between these puny adversaries is said to be 

 regarded with as much interest as a regular main at 

 Fives-court. 



The mantidae are confined to the tropical and tern 

 perate regions of the globe. The former possesse 

 by far the greater proportion of them, and it is only 

 in the southern parts of the latter that they seern to 



