CHAPTER VII 



THE MANTIS : HER LOVE-MAKING 



THE little that we have seen of the 

 Mantis' habits hardly tallies with what 

 we might have expected from her popular 

 name. To judge by the term Prego-Dieu, 

 we should look to see a placid insect, deep 

 in pious contemplation ; and we find ourselves 

 in the presence of a cannibal, of a ferocious 

 spectre munching the brain of a panic- 

 stricken victim. Nor is even this the most 

 tragic part. The Mantis has in store for 

 us, in her relations with her own kith and 

 kin, manners even more atrocious than those 

 prevailing among the Spiders, who have an 

 evil reputation in this respect. 



To reduce the number of cages on my 

 big table and give myself a little more space 

 while still retaining a fair-sized menagerie, 

 I instal several females, sometimes as many 

 as a dozen, under one cover. So far as accom- 

 modation is concerned, no fault can be found 

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