The Mantis: her Hunting 



Apart from her lethal implement, the 

 Mantis has nothing to inspire dread. She is 

 not without a certain beauty, in fact, with 

 her slender figure, her elegant bust, her pale- 

 green colouring and her long gauze wings. 

 No ferocious mandibles, opening like shears; 

 on the contrary, a dainty pointed muzzle 

 that seems made for billing and cooing. 

 Thanks to a flexible neck, quite independent 

 of the thorax, the head is able to move 

 freely, to turn to right or left, to bend, to 

 lift itself. Alone among insects, the Mantis 

 directs her gaze; she inspects and examines; 

 she almost has a physiognomy. 



Great indeed is the contrast between the 

 body as a whole, with its very pacific aspect, 

 and the murderous mechanism of the fore- 

 legs, which are correctly described as rap- 

 torial. The haunch is uncommonly long and 

 powerful. Its function is to throw forward 

 the rat-trap, which does not await its victim 

 but goes in search of it. The snare is decked 

 out with some show of finery. The base of 

 the haunch is adorned on the inner surface 

 with a pretty, black mark, having a white 

 spot in the middle ; and a few rows of bead- 

 like dots complete the ornamentation. 



The thigh, longer still, a sort of flat- 

 us 



