MANTIDAE 



!45 



the femur that it can be completely closed thereon, its teeth 



litting in among those of the femur (Fig. 



137, B) ; the latter has one or more longer 



spines overlapping the apical part of the 



tibia when contracted. The tarsus is 



slender, live-jointed, without pad. The other 



two pairs of legs are simple ; the hinder 



usually a little the longer, and in some 



species that possess powers of leaping 



(Ameles), with the femora a little thicker 



at the base. 



The alar organs of the Mantidae are 

 as regards the nervures and areas fairly 

 similar to those of the Blattidae. The 

 tegmina are usually narrow, and exhibit 

 three well-marked areas ; the one in front 

 or external (according as the wing is 

 expanded or closed) is the mediastinal 

 area ; it is usually more elongate and 



occupies a larger portion of the surface of the tegmen than in 

 Blattidae. The middle area, forming the larger part of the 

 wing, is occupied by the branches of the , radial and ulnar 

 nervures. The third area, the anal, possesses a sort of appendage 

 in the form of a small space of a more delicately membranous 

 nature at the inner part of the base. The tegmina are often 

 more or less leaf-like in texture and consistence ; this character 

 is as a rule not very marked, but there are a few species with the 

 tegmina very like foliage, this being more marked in the female ; 

 in some, if not in all, of these cases the mediastinal area is con- 

 siderably increased. One tegmen overlaps the other, as in Blat- 

 tidae, but to a less extent, and the correlative asymmetry is but 

 slight : there is frequently a pallid spot close to the main vein 

 on the principal area, nearer to the base than to the extremity. 

 The hind wings are more ample than the front, and of much 

 more delicate consistence ; they possess numerous veins converg- 

 ing to the base ; the anterior part of the wing is firmer in con- 

 sistence, and its veins are more numerously furcate ; there are 

 many more or less distinct minute cross-veinlets, and an elegant 

 tinting is not infrequent. They close in a fan-like manner, 

 transverse folding being unknown in the family. 



Fig. 137. Front leg of 

 Evipusa pauperata, 

 female : A, with tibia 

 extended and tarsns 

 wanting ; B, more mag- 

 nified (the basal parts 

 removed), showing the 

 mode of closure. 



