288 THE INSECT WOELD. 



larvae. Many species of Chalcidice, a family of Hymenoptera, also 

 live on the eggs of these Orthoptera. There are also among 

 the cockroaches certain brightly- coloured exotic species. These 

 colours show that they do not avoid the light. "We will mention 

 as examples the Bracks/cola robusta and the species of Corydia. 



The MantiddB are pretty insects, of very different habits from the 

 preceding. They alone of the Orthoptera are carnivorous. They 

 eat live insects, seizing their prey as it passes by them. They 

 rest generally on shrubs, remaining for hours together perfectly 

 motionless, the better to deceive other insects which are to become 

 their victims. 



It is this fixed and, as it were, meditative attitude which has 

 gained for them the name of Mantis, derived from the Greek 

 word iiavTLg, or " diviner," as it was imagined that in this attitude 

 they interrogated the future. The manner in which they hold 

 their long front legs, raised like arms to heaven, has also con- 

 tributed to make this superstitious notion believed, and sufficiently 

 explains the names given to divers species of Mantidce ; such as 

 Nun, Saint, Preacher, Suppliant, Mendicant, &c. Caillaud, the 

 traveller, tells us that in Central Africa a Mantis is an object of 

 worship. According to Sparmann, another species is worshipped 

 by the Hottentots. If by chance a Mantis should settle on a 

 person, this person is considered by them to have received a par- 

 ticular favour from heaven, and from that moment takes rank 

 among the saints ! 



In France the country-people believe that these insects point 

 out the way to travellers. Mouffet, a naturalist of the seventeenth 

 century, says on this subject, in a description of the Mantis, 

 " This little creature is considered of so divine a nature, that to 

 a child who asks it its way, it points it out by stretching out one 

 of its legs, and rarely or never makes a mistake." 



In the eyes of the Languedoc peasants the Mantis religiosa is 

 held almost sacred. They call it Prega-Diou (Prie-Dieu), and 

 believe firmly that it performs its devotions, its attitude, when it 

 is on the watch for its prey, resembling that of prayer. Settled on 

 the ground, it raises its head and thorax, clasps together the 

 joints of its front legs, and remains thus motionless for hours 

 together. But only let an imprudent fly come within reach of our 



