The Life of the Grasshopper 



the place of the long band of scales through 

 which the Praying Mantis is released. It is 

 here that the youngsters must emerge one by 

 one from their casket. Chance does not 

 favour me and I do not witness the exodus, 

 but, soon after the family has come forth, 

 I see dangling at the entrance to the libera- 

 ting pore a shapeless bunch of white cast-off 

 clothes, thin skins which a puff of wind 

 would disperse. These are the garments 

 flung aside by the young as they make their 

 appearance in the open air; and they testify 

 to the presence of a transition wrapper 

 which permits of movement inside the maze 

 of the nest. The Grey Mantis therefore also 

 has her primary larva, which packs itself up 

 in a narrow sheath, conducive to escape. 

 The period of this emergence is June. 



To return to the Praying Mantis. The 

 hatching does not take place all over the 

 nest at one time, but rather in sections, in 

 successive swarms which may be separated 

 by intervals of two days or more. The 

 pointed end, containing the last eggs, usually 

 begins. This inversion of chronological or- 

 der, calling the last to the light of day before 

 the first, may well be due to the shape of 

 the nest. The thin end, which is more ac- 

 J74 



