THE MANTICHORA. 7 



were ants, for example, as large as foxes, and, above all, there 

 was the Martichora, a Greeized form of the Persian word Mard- 

 khora, or Man-slayer. This Martichora, a portrait of which is 

 now before me, had the body of a lion, the head of a man, and 

 the tail of a scorpion, armed at the tip with a bnnch of porcu- 

 pine's quills, which the Martichora used as missile weapons, 

 flinging them at its enemies by a jerk of its tail. 



Although the beast's mouth was armed with three rows of 

 triangular teeth (evidently borrowed from the shark), the 

 armed tail formed its principal defence ; so that when hunters 

 caught a young Martichora, they bruised its tail between two 

 stones, so that it should never grow any more quills. Corrupted 

 — probably for the sake of euphony — into Mantichora, this 

 name was fancifully given to the present group of insects, in 

 consequence of their size, strength, and ferocity. 



Fig. 1. — Mantichora mygaloides. 



The species which has been selected for our example of this 

 family is the Mantichora (not Manticora, as it is generally, but 

 wrongly, spelled) mygaloides. It is a most extraordinary looking 

 Beetle, and may well puzzle entomologists as to the place which 

 it holds in the insect world. There is something about it that 

 shows its connection with the Tiger Beetles, whose terrible jaws 

 are absolutely exaggerated in the Mantichora. There is some- 

 thing about it that looks like a Carabus, or Ground Beetle, and 

 the general shape of the body bears such a curious resemblance 

 to that of the well-known Bird Spider of South America, that it 



