I 



The Mantis: her Hunting 



Let us return to the Mantis, who likewise 

 has mastered the first principles of speedy 

 and scientific killing, in which the little Bee- 

 slaughtering Spider excels. A sturdy Lo- 

 cust is captured; sometimes a powerful 

 Grasshopper. The Mantis naturally wants 

 to devour the victuals in peace, without be- 

 ing troubled by the plunges of a victim who 

 absolutely refuses to be devoured. A meal 

 liable to interruptions lacks savour. Now 

 the principal means of defence in this case 

 are the hind-legs, those vigorous levers 

 which can kick out so brutally and which 

 moreover are armed with toothed saws that 

 would rip open the Mantis' bulky paunch 

 if by ill-luck they happen to graze it. 

 What shall we do to reduce them to helpless- 

 ness, together with the others, which are 

 not dangerous but troublesome all the same, 

 with their desperate gesticulations? 



Strictly speaking, it would be practicable 

 to cut them off one by one. But that is 

 a long process and attended with a certain 

 risk. The Mantis has hit upon something 

 better. She has an intimate knowledge of 

 the anatomy of the spine. By first attacking 

 her prize at the back of the half-opened neck 

 and munching the cervical ganglia, she de- 



i35 



