1 88 DEL AGO A BAY. 



brane making its loud stridulating noise all the 

 time. When touched, instead of making off they 

 turn and show fight, always keeping the front 

 legs held up before them, to ward off or make an 

 attack, and it is necessary to take hold of them 

 carefully, as they not only try to bite, but their 

 spiny legs are very sharp. From this habit 

 they derive the name of " praying mantis," from 

 a fancied resemblance to the attitude of prayer ; 

 but it might more accurately be written " prey- 

 ing," as they are indeed ferocious enemies to 

 other insects, and the peculiar position in ques- 

 tion is for the purpose of rapidly seizing their 

 prey. I made a sketch of one on my wall who 

 was just finishing a large grasshopper ; both his 

 arms were full of pieces, and he was sucking the 

 juice from the last thigh with evident enjoyment. 

 I could think of nothing but the old pictures of 

 Jove with his thunderbolts. 



Once I watched a fight between a spider and a 

 mantis for a long while, the spider conquering in 

 the end ; but he was evidently very much afraid 

 of his prey, and kept retiring to a distance and 



