The Life of the Grasshopper 



in the hope of obtaining some choice morsel 

 for my boarders. 



These tit-bits are intended to show me to 

 what lengths the Mantis' strength and dar- 

 ing can go. They include the big Grey 

 Locust (Pachytylus cinerescens, FAB.), who 

 is larger than the insect that will consume 

 him; the White-faced Decticus, armed with a 

 vigorous pair of mandibles whereof our fin- 

 gers would do well to fight shy; the quaint 

 Tryxalis, who wears a pyramid-shaped mitre 

 on her head; the Vine Ephippiger, 1 who 

 clashes cymbals and sports a sword at the 

 bottom of her pot-belly. To this assortment 

 of game that is not any too easy to tackle, let 

 us add two monsters, two of the largest 

 Spiders of the district: the Silky Epeira, 

 whose flat, festooned abdomen is the size of 

 a franc piece ; and the Cross Spider, or Dia- 

 dem Epeira, 2 who is hideously hairy and 

 obese. 



I cannot doubt that the Mantis attacks 

 such adversaries in the open, when I see her, 



1 The Decticus, Tryxalis and Ephippiger are all species 

 of Grasshoppers or Locusts. Translator's Note. 



2 Epeira sericea and E, diadema are two Garden 

 Spiders for whom cf. The Life of the Spider, by J. Henri 

 Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chaps. 

 ix to xiv. Translator's Note. 



120 



