IN CAMP. 



Curious as 

 th6 Mantis or 

 Praying In- 

 sects are, 

 their present 

 appea ranee 

 has most pro- 

 bably been attained by an adaptation of 

 parts through a continuous series of minute 

 changes in order to enable them to obtain 

 their prey, which consists chiefly of other 

 insects, with the greatest facility. They 

 are cumbersome and heavy on the wing. 

 Some in fact are wingless. Therefore it 

 will not be on the wing that the means of 

 subsistence will be sought. The insects 

 have evidently discovered that by acquir- 

 ing the colouring of their surroundings 

 and by developing a mode of progression 

 which is at the same time as slow as old 

 Time itself and yet as rapid as the light- 

 ning flash, lay their best chance of secur- 

 ing their prey. This the family have suc- 

 ceeded in doing in a most marked degree. 

 107 



