396 INSECTS. 



in length, of a slender shape, and in its general sitting posture is 

 observed to hold up the two fore-legs, slightly bent, as if in an at- 

 titude of prayer : for this reason the superstition of the vulgar has 

 conferred upon it the reputation of a sacred animal, and a popular 

 notion has often prevailed, that a child or traveller having lost his 

 way, would be safely directed by observing the quarter to which 

 the animal pointed when taken into the hand. In its real dispo- 

 sition it is very far from sanctity ; preying with great rapacity ort 

 any of the smaller insects which fall in its way, and for which it 

 lies in wait with anxious assiduity in the posture at first mentioned, 

 seizing them with a sudden spring when within its reach, and de- 

 vouring them. It is also of a very pugnaceous nature ; and when 

 kept with others of its own species in a state of captivity, will at- 

 tack its neighbour with the utmost violence, till one or the other is 

 destroyed in the contest. Roesel, who kept some of these insects, 

 observes that in their mutual conflicts their manoeuvres very much 

 resemble those of hussars fighting with sabres ; and sometimes one 

 cleaves the other through at a single stroke, or severs the head from 

 its body. During these engagements the wings are generally ex- 

 panded, and when the battle is over, the conqueror devours his 

 antagonist. 



Among the Chinese this quarrelsome property in the genus mantis 

 Is turned into a similar entertaiment with that afforded by fighting 

 cocks and quails : (for it is to this insect, or one closely allied to it, 

 that I imagine the following passage in Mr. Barrow's account of 

 China to allude.) " They have even extended their enquiries 

 after fighting animals into the insect tribe, and have discovered a 

 species of gryllus, or locust, that will attack each other with such 

 ferocity as seldom to quit their hold, without bringing away at the 

 same time a limb of their antagonist. These little creatures are fed 

 and kept apart in bamboo cages, and the custom of making them 

 devour each other is so common that, during the summer months, 

 scarcely a boy is to be sen without his cage of grasshoppers." 



[Shaw, Barrow. 



