136 



BRANCH ARTHROPODA 



roaches may be gotten rid of by dusting fresh insect-powder into the 

 cracks of pantry and kitchen with a little hand-bellows. 



The praying mantids (Man'tidce) (Fig. 105) are peculiar insects which get 

 their name from the attitude in which they watch for their prey. They 

 stand motionless with the head raised upon the long prothorax and the 

 front legs clasped in front of the face. These front legs are spiny and are 

 used only for seizing and holding their prey. The wings are usually leaf- 

 like in color and texture, and this special protective resemblance is very 

 good when the insect rests upon a plant. They are carnivorous and do 



Fig. 106. A walking-stick among the stems of a flower-cluster. (From 



life.) 



much good in destroying insect pests, so much indeed that Professor Slinger- 

 land is trying to establish and distribute a European species in the United 

 States. Most of the mantids less than a score of species are tropical. 

 Our most common native species, Phasmoman'tis caroli'na, is about 2J 

 inches long. They are everywhere regarded with strange superstition, 

 and the superstitious say one should " never kill a mantis, as it bears 

 charm against evil." A Japanese mantis (Tinode'ra sinen'sis), recently 

 introduced into the United States, is brown. This protection conceals 

 the insect not only from its enemies, but from its prey, for which it " lies 



