278 ] The Wonderful Ways of Insects and Spiders 



How to Feed a Praying Mantis: In captivity a mantis will usually 

 accept bits of hamburger and other meat as substitutes for living 

 prey. Mantids vary quite a bit in their eating habits; some are 

 known to drink milk while others refuse it. They should be 

 watered every day, and you can do this by sprinkling water on 

 leaves in their cage. In time they may become tame enough to 

 drink the water off a spoon. 



During the winter, mantids' brownish egg cases, about the size 

 of walnuts, may be collected from weeds and bushes. In the spring 

 at least a couple of hundred babies will emerge from one of them. 



The Mantis as a Pest Exterminator: The mantids of our southern 

 states are native to this country, but one species found commonly 

 in the more northerly regions originally came from China and 

 Japan, while another is an import from Europe. Both were in- 

 troduced here by accident; later more were imported for their 

 supposed value in destroying insect pests. In China they are 

 sometimes tied by a silk thread near a bedroom window where 

 they trap flies and mosquitoes. 



WALKING STICKS MASTERS OF CAMOUFLAGE 

 A youngster must be really sharp-eyed to discover one of 

 these remarkably camouflaged insects. Aside from the fact that its 

 coloring blends with the tree bark on which it so often rests, the 

 walking stick has much the same shape as a slender twig. Unless 

 it moves, you can scarcely tell it is an animal! In North America 

 you will never see one flying, as all our species are wingless; but 

 some of the tropical kinds have wings. 



When a walking stick is detected and picked up, it is quite 

 capable of playing dead sometimes for several hours at a stretch. 

 Though the largest American species is about six inches long, 

 including the antennae, some found in India are known to reach 

 a length of fifteen inches. Some walking sticks are able to grow 

 a new leg, at least partially, to replace one lost through a mishap. 



