3150 



THE JOINTED ANIMALS 



insects assume when resting 'on a tree or shrub with their pro thorax raised, and 

 the fore-legs doubled up in front of them, accounts for their common names of 

 soothsayers and praying insects. They are among the most predaceous and blood- 

 thirsty of creatures, living on flies and other insects, which they seize with their 

 raptorial fore-legs, in the manner shown in the illustration. Mantidce are chiefly 

 found in the warmer parts of the world, but a few species occur in South Europe. 



EGG CASE OF THE COMMON KITCHEN COCKROACH. 

 (The top figure natural size, the others much enlarged.) 



The best known of these is the figured Mantis religiosa. Some species, such as the 

 African Harpax ocellata, shown on the colored plate, are curiously marked, while 

 others are prettily colored. The colors are sometimes so disposed that the insect in 

 its resting attitude resembles a flower, and thus draws toward it other insects, 

 which, when they have approached near enough, are suddenly caught, as if in a 

 trap, by the arms of the deceiver. 



The cockroaches (Blattidce) constitute one of those families in which 

 the legs are more specially fitted for running. They have a rather 

 i 2 



Cockroaches 



COCKROACHES. 



I. Phyllodromia germanica, male and female ; 2. Ectobia lapponica. 

 (Natural size.) 



short head, with a large, flat face, looking slightly downward, and the mouth 

 brought close to the prosternum. The eyes are large and compound, and in the 

 place usually occupied by the lateral ocelli there are often to be seen two pale soft 

 spots in the integument. The long and tapering antennas are inserted close to the 



