The Mantis: her Hunting 



tive ! To try to free yourself by force, with- 

 out first disengaging the claws implanted in 

 your flesh, would expose you to scratches 

 similar to those produced by the thorns of 

 a rose-tree. None of our insects is so 

 troublesome to handle. The Mantis claws 

 you with her pruning-hooks, pricks you with 

 her spikes, seizes you in her vice and makes 

 self-defence almost impossible if, wishing 

 to keep your prize alive, you refrain from 

 giving the pinch of the thumb that would 

 put an end to the struggle by crushing the 

 creature. 



When at rest, the trap is folded and 

 pressed back against the chest and looks 

 quite harmless. There you have the insect 

 praying. But, should a victim pass, the atti- 

 tude of prayer is dropped abruptly. Sud- 

 denly unfolded, the three long sections of 

 the machine throw to a distance their term- 

 inal grapnel, which harpoons the prey and, 

 in returning, draws it back between the two 

 saws. The vice closes with a movement like 

 that of the fore-arm and the upper arm; and 

 all is over : Locusts, Grasshoppers and others 

 even more powerful, once caught in the 

 mechanism with its four rows of teeth, are 

 irretrievably lost. Neither their desperate 

 117 



