The Mantis: her Nest 



sand germs; those who laid twice left eight 

 hundred; and the less fertile mothers three 

 to four hundred. In every case, it is a fine 

 family, which would even become cumbrous, 

 if it were not subjected to drastic pruning. 



The pretty little Grey Mantis is much less 

 lavish. In my cages she lays only once ; and 

 her nest contains some sixty eggs at most. 

 Although built on the same principles and 

 likewise fixed in the open, it differs remark- 

 ably from the work of the Praying Mantis, 

 first in its scanty dimensions and next in cer- 

 tain details of structure. It is shaped like a 

 shelving ridge. The two sides are curved 

 and the median line projects into a slightly 

 denticulated crest. It is grooved crosswise 

 by about a dozen furrows, corresponding 

 with the several layers of eggs. Here we 

 find no exit-zone, with short, imbricated 

 scales ; no snowy ribbon with alternating out- 

 lets. The whole surface, including the 

 foundation, is uniformly covered with a shiny 

 red-brown rind, in which the bubbles are very 

 small. One end is ogival in shape; the other, 

 the end where the nest finishes, is abruptly 

 truncated and is prolonged above in a short 

 spur. The whole forms a kernel surrounded 

 by the foamy rind. Like the Praying 

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