STRAIGHT-WINGED INSECTS 



293 



Pfc. tj '. P Dond,, F.Z.S. 



HOUSE-CRICKET 



J^cry similar in its habits to 

 the cockroach 



the bedside bristling with horns, and these were cockroaches some three 



inches long. The drawing-room was gorgeous with yellow satin, and 



the magnificent yellow curtains were sprinkled with these crawling 



things. The consequence was that I used to stand on a chair and 



scream. This annoyed Richard very much. ' A nice sort of traveler 



and companion yon are going to make,' he said; ' I suppose you chink 



you look very pretty and interesting standing on that chair and 



howling at those innocent creatures.' This hurt me so much that, 



without descending from the chair, I stopped screaming, and made a 



meditation like St. Simon Stylites on his pillar; and it was, ' That if I 



was going to live in a country always in contact with these and worse 



things, though I had a perfect horror of anything black and crawling, 



it would never do to go on like that.' So I got down, fetched a basin 



of water and a slipper, and in two hours by the watch I had knocked 



ninety-seven of them into it. It cured me. From that day I had no 



more fear of vermin and reptiles, which is just as well in a country 



where Nature is over-luxuriant. A little while after we changed our 



rooms we were succeeded by Lord and Lady Lytton, and, to my 



infinite delight, I heard the same screams coming from the same room 



a little while after. ' There,' I said in triumph, ' you see I am not the only woman who 



does not like cockroaches.' ' 



The dimensions of the insects are not so much exaggerated ; for I believe this story refers 



to the large reddish cockroach, which is common in many cities, although only in warehouses. 



It does not usually much exceed an inch in length ; but the antennae are very long, and the 



wing-cases expand nearly 3 inches. (See photograph on page 689.) 



The SOOTHSAYERS, or PRAYING-INSECTS, are not British, though one or two species are found 



in the south of Europe. They have long fore legs, the shanks of which are set with a double 



row of long, curving, sabre-like spines, and when at rest they 

 hold them up as if in the attitude of prayer ; but they are 

 really on the look-out for prey, and the long spines are admirably 

 adapted for wounding or grasping the insects which form their 

 food. They also fight fiercely among themselves, and it is no 

 uncommon occurrence for a female to tear to pieces and devour 

 her mate, either during or after their courtship. The soothsayers 

 are often of a green colour, so as to match the grass and leaves 

 among which they live, and thus conceal them from their prey. 



The STICK-INSECTS, or SPECTRE-INSECTS, have some resem- 

 blance to the Soothsayers, but are exclusively vegetable-feeders, and 

 have long, sprawling legs, or shorter ones, sometimes more or less 

 lobate ; but they never possess prehensile fore legs for seizing prey. 

 The wing-cases are generally quite small ; but some species have 

 beautiful large green or pink wings, folded fan-wise, and covered by 

 the stout front border of the wing. Many species are wingless, 

 and of a grey or brown colour, which renders them scarcely distin- 

 guishable from dry bits of stick ; and among these is the largest living 

 insect known, a grey stick-like species from Borneo, measuring 

 nearly 13 inches from head to tail. Other species have curious 

 excrescences on the legs and body, which make them look like 

 bits of wood overgrown with moss or lichen; while others possess 

 large flat lobes growing from the legs and body, which cause them 

 to be almost indistinguishable from green leaves ; and, indeed, 

 these insects arc frequently called " Walking Leaves." 



ttutt iy It'. P P,.nA., F.Z.S. 



MOLE-CRICKET 



A brown insect about 2 inches long. 



The I'ery broad and fiat front legs 



are used for hur'oiving 



