i8 4 



INSECTS. 



them like the blade of a knife. The tarsi of all the legs are five-jointed. These 

 insects usually have two pairs of wings, of which the fore-wings, or elytra, are 

 ordinarily of the length of the abdomen. The characteristic posture which these 

 insects assume when resting on a tree or shrub with their prothorax raised, and 

 the fore-legs doubled up in front of them, accounts for their common names of 

 soothsayers and praying insects. They are amongst the most predaceous and 

 bloodthirsty of creatures, living on flies and other insects, which they seize with 

 their raptorial fore-legs, in the manner shown in the illustration. Mantidce 

 are chiefly found in th3 warmer parts of the world, but a few species occur 

 in South Europe. The best known of these is the figured Mantis religiosa. 

 Some species, such as the African Harpax ocellata, shown on the coloured 



Cockroaches. 



PRAYING INSECT SEIZING A FLY. 



The egg-case and some of the escaping larvse are shown at the left-hand side of the figure. 



Plate, are curiously marked, while others are prettily coloured. The colours are 

 sometimes so disposed that the insect in its resting attitude resembles a flower, 

 and thus draws towards it other insects, which, when they have approached near 

 enough, are suddenly caught, as if in a trap, by the arms of the deceiver. 



The cockroaches (Blattidce) constitute one of those families in 

 which the legs are more specially fitted for running. They have a 

 rather short head, with a large, flat face, looking slightly downwards, and the 

 mouth brought close to the prosternum. The eyes are large and compound, and 

 in the place usually occupied by the lateral ocelli there are often to be seen 

 two pale soft spots in the integument. The long and tapering antennae are 

 inserted close to the eyes, and composed of a stouter basal joint, followed by a 

 number of short joints. The strong and horny jaws are toothed or spined on the 

 inner side, and thus well adapted to biting ; and the head is scarcely visible from 

 above, being overlapped by the large, shield-like plate of the prothorax. The legs 

 are long, with spiny tibiae, and end in five-jointed tarsi. The pulvillus, which pro- 

 jects between the tarsal claws of these and many other insects, constitutes a sixth 

 joint, although not usually reckoned as such. Cockroaches are generally provided 

 with t\vo pairs of wings, the front pair being stiff and horny, while the hind pair 



