The Tachytes 



houses of the Wasp; nevertheless her pre- 

 sence is repeated often enough to show that 

 the huntress appreciates the value of this 

 prey when she comes across it. The three 

 sorts of game are in the larval state, with 

 rudimentary wings. Their dimensions, 

 which vary a good deal, fluctuate between 

 two-'fifths and four-fifths of an inch in 

 length. 



The Praying Mantis is a bright green; 

 she boasts an elongated prothorax and an 

 alert gait. The other Mantis is ash-grey. 

 Her prothorax is short and her movements 

 heavy. The coloration therefore is no guide 

 to the huntress, any more than the gait. 

 The green and the grey, the swift and the 

 slow are unable to baffle her perspicacity. 

 To her, despite the great difference in ap- 

 pearance, the two victims are Mantes. And 

 she is right. 



But what are we to say of the Empusa? 

 The insect world, at all events in our parts, 

 contains no more fantastic creature. The 

 children here, who are remarkable for find- 

 ing names which really depict the animal, 

 call the larva " the Devilkin." It is indeed 

 a spectre, a diabolical phantom worthy of 

 the pencil of a Callot.^ There is nothing 



^Jacques Callot (1592-1635), the French engraver and 

 141 



