296 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



coloured, has very large wings which can be used for flight. 

 One of these insects, Thcspis Xiphias, is remarkable for having 

 its body nearly flat, and armed down each side with a row of 

 small teeth. The naturalist who named it thought that its body 

 bore some resemblance to the beak of the sword-fish, and accord- 

 ingly gave it the name of Xiphias. 



Another lovely-winged Mantis is the Harpax occllaria, of 

 Southern Africa. 



In this creature we see the germs of the curious flattening 

 which distinguishes the well-known Leaf Insects. The head is 

 flattened in the middle, and the large eyes protrude on either 

 side like those of a lobster. Each side of the thorax is much 

 flattened, and there is a flattened projection on the inner side of 



Fio. 145. — Uarpax occllaria. 

 (Green ; elytra with a yellow, black, aiul green spot) 



the two hinder pairs of legs. The body is also flattened, and 

 three of the segments project at the sides so as to form teeth, 

 almost exactly like those of the earwig figured on page 279. 



In this insect both the wings and elytra are nearly of equal 

 beauty. If the reader will refer to the illustration, he will see 

 that the basal half of each wing is rather darker than the rest. 

 This portion of the wing is opaque yellow, much like the " king's 

 yellow " of painters, the rest of the wing being beautifully trans- 

 lucent and of a crystalline clearness. The colour of the elytra is 

 rather more complicated. First comes a patch of green next the 

 base, and then, as far as the edge of the eye-like mark, the colour 



