52 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



It is a remarkable sight to watch one of these voracious, sanc- 

 timonious-looking fiends out for a hunt for food. A number of 

 years ago I kept a large one twenty-four hours in a box without 

 anything to eat. The next afternoon I let him walk out of his 

 prison onto a window-sill, where the window-sash was down, and 

 a dozen or more large iiies had congregated. He came forth 

 with marked deliberation, and with a dignified mien, as though 

 he was about to burst with rage at the gross insult to which he 

 had been subjected. I even thought I could detect the hate in 

 his eye as he glanced obliquely at me, as his curious, quick- 

 moving little head turned from side to side on the anterior end 

 of his elongated, semi-erect prothorax. For all the world he 

 looked as though he said, "Were I big enough I'd saber you, you 

 scoundrel; but I'm not; and, however, I'm too hungry, and must 

 get after some of those flies I see over there." Then, with an ap- 

 parent effort, he bottled his rage, and assuming an exceedingly 

 devout air, with his murderous, half-opened forelimbs held in 

 their characteristic devotional attitude in front of him, he, with 

 markedly slow and mincing steps, betook his way silently down 

 the sill close to the sash. Ever and anon he would stand motion- 

 less as I patiently watched him. He would then cock his head 

 from side to side in a vicious, knowing manner, as much as to 

 say, " I know what I'm up to, but those flies don't." Just then a 

 big blue one lit directly in front of him zip, flew out one of 

 the fellow's forelegs, and his victim was seized in a twinkling 

 between its joints, as merciless as though he had fallen between 

 the sharpened, miniature blades of two saws, closing together 

 with flashlike rapidity. The other leg at once came into play in 

 steadying his capture in front of his mouth, and the fly was soon 

 devoured. Then that Mantis cautiously stalked about that win- 

 dow-sill until every fly upon it had fallen a prey to his voracious 

 appetite. 



In nature they will also catch and devour caterpillars, grass- 

 hoppers and other insects, while a large South American form 

 will even take lizards and frogs, or some of the smaller species of 

 birds. 



Some of the foreign species have their wings beautifully modi- 

 fied so as to present the appearance of withered leaves, and this 

 mimicry greatly aids them in deceiving their prey. Bates, the 

 naturalist, found an Amazonian Mantis exactly mimicking the 

 white ants upon which it lived, and the distinguished Wallace, of 



