Order 6. 



ORTHOPTERA. 



559 



Biatia tapponica, devours the cured lish which the Laplanders have provided for their sustenance, in lieu of 

 bread. In our country it inhabits woods, [which leads to the suspicion that the species thus named are not 

 identical]. M. Hummel has published a series of very interesting observations on Blatta germanica, in his 

 Essais Entomologiques. 



The third genus, that of 



Mantis, Linn., — 



Has also five joints in all the tarsi, and the TPings simply folded longitudinally, but the head is 

 exposed, and the body long and narrow ; the palpi are also short and pointed, and their tonguelet 

 quadrifid. 



These insects are found only in temperate or hot climates, and reside upon trees or plants, often 

 resembling their leaves or twigs in the form and colour of the body, and seeking the full sun-light. 

 Some are rapacious, whilst the others are herbivorous. The eggs are ordinarily inclosed in a capsule 

 of a gummy secretion, which hardens in the air, and is divided internally into a number of cells, and is 

 sometimes in the form of an oval cocoon, sonjetiraes like a pod with angles, and sometimes spined. 

 The female fastens it to plants, or other substances elevated from the ground. 



Some have the two fore-legs much larger and longer than the others, with the coxae long, the thighs very strong, 

 compressed, and armed beneath with spines, the tibiae curved, and terminated by a strong hook ; they have 

 ocelli distinct, and close together in a triangle ; the first segment of the thorax is very large ; the four lobes of the 

 tonguelet of nearly equal length ; the antennae inserted between the eyes, and the head triangular and vertical. 



These species are carnivorous, seizing their prey with the fore-feet, which they elevate in front of the body, and 

 quickly folding the tibiae upon the under-side of the femur [which thus becomes a most powerful raptorial instru- 

 ment, not only fitted for capturing the prey, but also exactly formed for conveying it to the mouth]. The eggs 

 are very numerous, and are inclosed in the same number of cells disposed in regular series, and united in an ovoid 

 mass or cocoon. 



[These Orthoptera, which are very numerous, have been distributed by Serville and Burmeister into a great 

 number of genera, founded mostly upon external characters of form.] Latreille, however, retains them in the 



single subgenus 



Mantis proper, restricting it, however, to 

 those which have no frontal horn on the head. 



Mantis religiosa, Linn, (the Praying Mantis, or 

 Sooth-sayer), is regarded by the Turks as an 

 object of religious respect. Another species is 

 still more venerated by the Hottentots. The 

 former is very common in the south of France 

 and Italy. See the work of Stoll, and the memoir 

 of Lichtenstem, in the Transactions of the Lin- 

 nean Society, [also the works of Serville and Bur- 

 meister]. 



Those species which have the forehead pro- 

 longed into a horn, with the antennae of the males 

 pectinated, form the genus Empusa, Illiger. 



The others have the fore feet similar to the hind 

 ones; the ocelli very indistinct, or wanting; the 

 first segment of the thorax shorter, or of the same 

 length as the following ; the interior divisions of 

 the tonguelet shorter than the lateral ; the an- 

 tennse inserted in front of the eyes, and the head nearly ovoid, porrected, with the mandibles thick, and 

 the palpi compressed. These insects are of very sin- 

 gular form, and resemble either the twigs or leaves of 

 trees. They appear to feed only on vegetables, and, 

 like many of the Grasshoppers, their colours resemble 

 those of the plant on which they ordinarily reside; 

 the two sexes often differ vei-y widely from each other. 

 They form the subgenus 



Spectrum, Stoll, — 



Which has been divided into two others. 



Phasma, Fab., comprises the species which have the 

 body filiform or linear, similar to a stick, many of 

 which are entirely destitute of wings, or have the wing- 

 covers very short. Many large species are found in the 

 Moluccas, and South America. P. Rossia, Fab., in- 

 habits the South of France. 



PhylUum, lUig., has the body very flat and membranous, and the feet furnished with broad membranes. 



Fig. 89. — Mantis, in the act of seizing a fly, with a young one just hatched. 



Fig. 90.— Phajma (Bacterial fraplls. 



