418 SYSTEM OF INSECTS. 



to entrap and destroy other insects. They may usually be 

 known by their powerful jaws or instruments of suction ; 

 by their prominent or ferocious eyes ; by the swiftness 

 of their motions, either on the earth, in the air, or in the 

 water ; by their fraud and artifice in lying in wait for 

 their prey. Amongst the Coleoptem, the Predaceous 

 beetles, including the Llnnean genera Cicindela, Car a- 

 bus % Dytiscus, and Gyrinus> are of this description ; 

 and they symbolize those higher animals that by open 

 violence attack and devour their prey : for instance, the 

 sharks, pikes, &c., amongst the fishes ; the eagles, hawks, 

 &c., amongst the birds ; and the whole feline genus 

 amongst the beasts. Similar characters give a similar 

 relation of analogy to the Mantidce and Libellulina 

 amongst the OrtJwptera and Neuroptera* The whole 

 family of Arachne^ the larvae of the Myrmeleonina, &c., 

 portray those animals that to ferocity add cunning and 

 stratagem, or suck the blood of their victims. The My- 

 riapods symbolize in a striking manner the Ophidian 

 reptiles. Look at an lulus, and both in its motions and 

 form you will acknowledge that it represents a living ser- 

 pent ; next turn your eyes to a centipede or Scolopendra, 

 and you will find it nearly an exact model of the skele- 

 ton of a dead one, the flat segments of its body resem- 

 bling the vertebrae, its curving legs the ribs, and its ve- 



3 A most singular insect belonging to this tribe, and which seems 

 to form a link, having a notched cubit, between the Amaurona and 

 the Lamprona, has been described and figured by Hagenbach under 

 the name of Mormolyce phyllodes. It exhibits such a striking resem- 

 blance to a Mantis or Phasma, that it might be mistaken for one. It 

 was found on the western side of the island of Java. Mr. Samouelle 

 showed me a second species of this genus from China, belonging to 

 a lady, who put it into his hands, it being broken, to put together. 



