

The Life of the Grasshopper 



with delicate metamorphoses, Butterflies, 

 Moths, Beetles, Flies and Bees, as yet ex- 

 isted. Manners were not gentle in those 

 days of passion eager to destroy in order 

 to produce ; and the Mantes, a faint memory 

 of the ghosts of old, might well continue the 

 amorous methods of a bygone age. 



The habit of eating the males is customary 

 among other members of the Mantis family. 

 I am indeed prepared to admit that it is 

 general. The little Grey Mantis, who looks 

 so sweet and so peaceable in my cages, never 

 seeking a quarrel with her neighbours how- 

 ever crowded they may be, bites into her 

 male and feeds on him as fiercely as the 

 Praying Mantis herself. I wear myself out, 

 scouring the country to procure the indis- 

 pensable complement to my gynzeceum. No 

 sooner is my powerfully-winged and nimble 

 prize introduced than, most often, he is 

 clawed and eaten up by one of those who no 

 longer need his aid. Once the ovaries are 

 satisfied, the Mantes of both species abhor 

 the male, or rather look upon him as no- 

 thing better than a choice piece of venison. 



146 



