130 NATURAL HISTOltY. 



deserts of Arabia and North Africa, and their colour is exactly the same as that of the sand on which 

 they run about in search of prey. 



When thus engaged, the Mantidse generally move slowly upon their four rather long and 

 slender ambulatory legs, with the prothorax elevated and the fore legs extended, an attitude which 

 has led to a variety of curious conceptions with regard to them on the part of the imaginative 

 inhabitants of southern Europe. From very ancient times it has been believed that these insects 

 would indicate by the gestures of their fore limbs the road that a wanderer ought to take ; hence they 

 were called Mantes, or soothsayers. Another view of their nature ascribes a religious signification 

 to the attitudes taken by the insects, and hence they are known as praying or preaching insects, or 

 by other names intimating a belief that they are habitually engaged in praising the Deity ; and, 

 according to an old legend, St. Francis Xavier, on seeing a Mantis moving slowly along with its 

 fore legs raised as if in devotion, desired it to sing the praises of God, which it immediately did in a 

 very beautiful canticle. Unfortunately, all these wonderful notions ai'e by no means correct ; the 

 Mantis walking solemnly in a devotional attitude is really an exceedingly voracious creature in 

 search of its prey, and the raised fore limbs are merely extended in readiness to seize its victim as 

 soon as its stealthy pace has brought it within, striking distance. Once seized, the prey has no 

 chance of escape ; the abundant armature of the femora and tibiae hold very firmly whatever they 

 get the opportunity of clasping. Their power is very great, and they are used, not only for 

 grasping prey, but also in fighting among themselves, when a successful stroke will often take off 

 an adversary's head. They can even draw blood from the fingers of a human assailant, and in 

 all probability when the soothsayer is supposed to be kindly directing some lost child in the way to 

 its home, the attitude suggesting this kind action is really assumed for defensive purposes. 



The female Mantidse deposit their eggs enclosed in peculiar cases which they attach to the 

 twigs and branches of shrubs, to stones, and other objects. These egg-cases, which vary a good deal 

 in form, are usually of a greyish-brown colour, and furrowed transversely, each furrow generally 

 corresponding to a storey of the interior structure, of which there may be as many as twenty, 

 and the largest of these may contain a couple of dozen eggs. Each egg is contained in a sort of cell, 

 formed by a portion of frothy liquid ejected with it from the abdomen of the mother, and thus 

 the central part of the case is occupied by a series of circles of such cells, each cell containing an egg, 

 which is placed in such a manner that the head of the larva when formed will be directed towards 

 the central axis of the case. The larvae, when hatched, have therefore nothing to do but to make 

 their way straight forward. The outer part of the case consists of a further portion of the same 

 frothy liquid, which is produced as the business of egg-laying goes on, and worked into shape 

 by means of the extremity of the abdomen. The fluid in question is at first nearly transparent, 

 but as it hardens it gradually acquires a darker colour. The young larvae are attached to the interior 

 of the shell of the egg, which remains in the cell, by means of two slender silken threads which 

 spring from their cerci, and on their first emergence they remain suspended in the air by these threads 

 until the time of their first change of skin, after which they descend to the ground and go in 

 search of food. This would seem to be a provision to ensure their safety during the first few days 

 of their existence. 



FAMILY V.-PHASMID^E, OR STICK AND LEAF INSECTS. 



If many of the Mantidae are singular -looking creatures, the majority of the members of the 

 present family are still more bizarre in their appearance. Most of them resemble sticks, either 

 green, growing twigs, or brown and withered branches, and hence the names of Stick-insects and 

 Walking-sticks, commonly applied to them, are very appropriate. Their skeleton-like forms, often 

 dusky colours, and slow, stealthy motions, have given origin to another similitude they have 

 been likened to ghosts or spectres, an idea upon which the names of the typical genus and of the 

 family are founded. 



The Phasmidae are at once distinguishable from the Mantidae, to which, however, they are 

 nearly allied, by the construction of the fore legs, which are ordinary walking limbs, not adapted 

 for seizing anything. In fact, all the legs are similar, although not of equal length ; the femora 

 and tibiae are often dilated into foliaceous lobes ; the tarsi are all five-jointed^ with large arolia 

 between the claws. The head is freely attached to the thorax, and bears a pair of thread-like 



