ORTHOPTERA. 149 



M. Hummel, member of the Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosc, in the first 

 number of his Entomological Essays, has given us various interest- 

 ing observations on the history of the B. germanica. Fab., a species 

 of a light reddish or fulvous colour, with two black lines on the 

 thorax *. 



Mantis, Lin,, 



Where we also find five joints in all the tarsi, and wings simply 

 plaited longitudinally ; but the head is exposed, and the body narrow 

 and elongated. 



They also differ from the Blattse in their short palpi terminating in 

 a point, and in their quadrifid ligula. 



These insects, which are only found in southern and temperate 

 climates, remain on plants or trees, frequently resemble their leaves 

 and branches in the form and colour of the body, and are diurnal. 

 Some of them are rapacious and others herbivorous. Their eggs are 

 usually enclosed in a capsule formed of some gummy substance, 

 which hardens by exposure to the air, and divided internally into 

 severals cells ; it is sometimes in the form of an oval shell, and at 

 others in that of a seed, with ridges and angles, and even bristled 

 with little spines. The female glues it on a plant or other body 

 raised above the earth. Their stomach resembles that of a Blatta, 

 but their intestines are shorter in proportion f . 



In some, the two anterior legs are larger and longer than the 

 others, the ccxse and thighs stout, compressed, armed with spines un- 

 derneath, and the tibise terminated by a strong hook. They have 

 three simple, distinct eyes, approximated into a triangle. The first 

 segment of the trunk is very large, and the four lobes of the ligula 

 are almost equal in length. The antennae are inserted between the 

 eyes, and the head is triangular and vertical. 



These species are carnivorous, and seize their prey with their fore 

 legs, Avhich they raise upwards or extend forwards, flexing the tibiae 

 with great quickness on the vmder part of the thigh. Their eggs, 

 which are numerous, are enclosed in a corresponding number of 

 cells, arranged in regular series, and united in an ovoid mass. 



They form the subgenus 



Mantis proper. 



Those in which the front is prolonged into a sort of horn, and in 

 which the antennae of the male are pectinated, are the Empus^ of 

 lUiger. The extremity of their thighs is furnished with a rounded 



* For the other species, see De Geer, lb. ; Fab. ; Oliv., Encyc. Method. ; Fuels., 

 Arch. Insect., tab. xlix, 2 — 11 ; Coqueb., Illust. Icon. Insect., Ill, xxi, 1 ; B.paci- 

 fic.a, and Touss. Charpent., Horje EntomoL, p. 71 — 78. As to the Blatta acervonan 

 of Panzer, see the subgenus Myrmecophila of the following family. Those 

 Blattse in which one of the sexes at least is destitute of wings, such as the B. orien- 

 ialis, and the B. Umbata, and B. decipiens, of Hummel, in our Faun. Nat. du R^gn. 

 Anim., form the genus Kakerlac. 



t Excellent anatomical observations on these Insects are given by M. Marcel de 

 Serresin the Mem. du Mus. d'Hist. Naturelle. 



