20O My Neighbor's Wood-Shed 



tempts to capture it quite cleverly. Do they 

 make a noise of any kind ? Folk-lore and 

 superstition have heaped their whimseys on 

 the poor insecVs head, but, fortunately for 

 it, the creature is shunned rather than perse- 

 cuted. Riley says the walking-stick works 

 destruction among oaks, but those about here 

 have not shown much loss of twigs or foliage. 

 As is apt to be the case, the folk-lore is mere 

 silliness, and so a fit plaything for scientific 

 triflers ; but why the name " spider-killer" 

 should be common I have never learned. 

 Can it arise from the faft of the insecVs 

 appearance being somewhat similar to that 

 of the praying mantis of the Southern 

 States ? Occasionally one of these walking- 

 sticks takes a step too far and has a foot in 

 the web of a spider. Then there is a com- 

 motion, and I am always a delighted spefta- 

 tor. We cannot altogether escape the ef- 

 fects of a non-human origin. More or less 

 of the blood-thirsty tendencies of our ter- 

 tiary-era ancestry will crop out on occasion. 

 The walking-stick is very apt to be pretty 

 well broken up before he gets out of the 

 way, and sometimes is hopelessly disabled. 

 Of course there are hornets and wasps in 



