396 INSECT A. 



The 1 ihi; t ;i are very active nocturnal insects, some of which live in the 

 interior of our houses, particularly the kitchen, in bake-houses and flour mills ; 

 the others inhabit the country. They are extremely voracious, and consume 

 all sorts of provisions. 



MANTIS, Linnaus. 



Here also we find five joints in all the tarsi, and wings simply plaited longi- 

 tudinally ; but the head is exposed, and the body narrow and elongated. 



They also differ from the Blatte in their short palpi terminating in a point, 

 and in their quadrifid ligula. 



These insects, which are only found in southern and temperate climates, 

 remain on plants or trees, frequently resemble their leaves and branches in the 

 form and colour of the body, and are diurnal. Some of them are rapacious 

 and others herbivorous. Their eggs are usually enclosed in a capsule formed 

 of some gummy substance, which hardens by exposure to the air, and divided 

 internally into several cells ; it is sometimes in the form of an oval shell, and 

 at others in that of a seed, with ridges and angles, and even bristled with 

 little spines. The female glues it on a plant or other body raised above the 

 earth. 



M. religiosa, Lin. So called from the position to which it raises its anterior 

 legs or arms, which resembles that of supplication. The Turks entertain a 

 religious respect for this animal, and another species is held in still greater 

 veneration by the Hottentots. 



In the others, the anterior legs resemble the following ones. The eyes are 

 simple, very indistinct, or null ; and the first segment of the trunk is shorter, 

 or at most as long as the following one. 



These insects have singular forms resembling twigs of trees or leaves. 

 They appear to feed exclusively on vegetables, and like several Grylli are 

 coloured like the plants on which they live. There is frequently a great 

 difference between the sexes. 

 They form the subgenus 



SPECTRUM, Sloll, 

 Which has been again divided into others. 



FAMILY II. 



SALTATORIA. 



THE posterior legs of the insects which compose our second family of the 

 Orthoptera, are remarkable for the largeness of their thighs, and for their 

 spinous tibiae, which are adapted for saltation. 



The males summon their mates by a stridulous noise, vulgarly termed 

 singing. This is sometimes produced by rapidly rubbing against its antagonist 



