288 THE INSECT WORLD. 



a repulsive smell, and of a reddish brown colour. It is a little larger 

 than the Blatta Americana. In France it is called by various names, 

 such as Cafard, Panetiere, Noirot, Bete noir, &c. If in the middle of 

 the night you suddenly enter with a light into the down-stairs 

 kitchens, you will often see these little beasts running about on the 

 table, and devouring the remains of the food with astonishing 

 rapidity. 



The largest species of the genus of which we are now treating is 

 the Kakerlac insignis, which inhabits Cayenne and Brazil, and in 

 length sometimes exceeds an inch and three-quarters, and in the 

 extent of its wings four inches and a half. 



It is principally in hot countries that the cockroaches do the 

 greatest damage. In the Antilles, of which they are the pest, it is 

 affirmed that in one single night they can bore holes through trunks, 

 through cases, and through bags, and destroy objects which were 

 supposed to be in perfect safety. Sometimes the walls, the floors, 

 the beds, the tables, everything, in short, is infested by them, and it 

 is impossible to find a way of preserving the food from their repulsive 

 touch. One can, however, partially succeed in destroying them by 

 the aid of insect powders. They have, however, natural enemies. 

 Poultry and owls are very fond of them. A species of wasp, Chlorion 

 compression, lays up a stock of cockroaches, which it previously 

 renders insensible, for its larvae. Many species of Chalcidia, a family 

 of Hymenoptera, also live on the eggs of these Orthoptera. There 

 are also among the cockroaches certain brightly-coloured exotic 

 species. These colours show that they do not avoid the light. We 

 will mention as examples the Brachycola robusta and the species of 

 Corydia. 



The Mantidce are pretty insects, of very different habits from the 

 preceding. They alone of the Orthoptera are carnivorous. They 

 eat live insects, seizing their prey as it passes by them. They rest 

 generally on shrubs, remaining for hours together perfectly motionless, 

 the better to deceive other insects which are to become their victims. 



It is this fixed and as it were meditative attitude which has 

 gained for them the name of Mantis, derived from the Greek word 

 pdvTis, or "diviner," as it was imagined that in this attitude they 

 interrogated the future. The manner in which they hold their long 

 front legs, raised like arms to Heaven, has also contributed to make 

 this superstitious notion believed, and sufficiently explains the names 

 given to divers species of Mantidce; such as Nun, Saint, Preacher, 

 Suppliant, Mendicant, &c. Caillaud, a traveller, tells us that in 

 Central Africa a Mantis is an object of worship. According to 



