THE PRAYING MANTIS 289 



Christopher, till it was found to be a lady, and the 

 name was hurriedly changed to Emily. 



Emily would attack anything up to her own 

 size and weight spiders, wasps, and even scor- 

 pions ; but she especially loved flies, and I have 

 seen her hold a fly in either arm, eating from each 

 one in turn. 



She always liked her food alive, and while I 

 discouraged this habit with moths and other harm- 

 less insects, she was allowed her way with flies. 

 Though she murdered three husbands, ate them 

 in moments of passionate affection, yet she died 

 doing her duty to the insect world, leaving to 

 posterity, and a natural history museum, a 

 gossamer nest and a family of many hundred 

 eggs. 



The egg nest which Emily made was of oval 

 form, closely woven from silky material, and may 

 be seen in most parts of Africa attached to the stem 

 of a bush, a grass stalk, or a stone. The mantis 

 insects, sometimes called "stick" insects from 

 their resemblance to the twigs on which they rest, 

 are of various sizes, shapes, and colours. Emily 

 was about 3 inches long and of a bright green 

 colour, but I have seen mantis insects over 6 inches 

 long, and often so coloured as closely to resemble the 

 bushes they lived on. 



The mantis, though generally a pursuer, is 

 sometimes itself pursued. A wasp called the 

 Tachyles, one of that large group of insects possess- 

 ing stings which paralyse without killing, defeat 

 the mantis by circling round its slower-moving 

 victim, till it can dart on to its back, sting it to 

 19 



