ORTHOPTERA. 425 



longitudinally, the head is concealed under the plate of the thorax, and the 

 body oval, orbicular and flattened. 



The Blattae 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, Lin. 



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

 gitudinally; but the head is exposed and the body narrow and elongated. 



They also differ from the Blattse 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 hi 

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

 pacious 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, L. 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 



SPECTKUM, Stoll, 

 Which has been again divided into others. 



FAMILY II. 



SALTATORIA. 



The posterior legs of the Insects which compose our second fa- 

 mily of the Orthoptera, are remarkable for the largeness of their 

 thighs, and for their spinous tibiae, which are adapted for saltation. 



3D 



