The Empusa 



Mantis. Of her youthful eccentricities, she 

 retains the pointed mitre, the saw-like arm- 

 guards, the long bust, the knee-pieces, the 

 three rows of scales on the lower surface of 

 the belly; but the abdomen is now no longer 

 twisted into a crook and the animal is 

 comelier to look upon. Large pale-green 

 wings, pink at the shoulder and swift in 

 flight in both sexes, cover the belly, which is 

 striped white and green underneath. The 

 male, the dandy sex, adorns himself with 

 plumed antennae, like those of certain Moths, 

 the Bombyx tribe. In respect of size, he is 

 almost the equal of his mate. 



Save for a few slight structural details, 

 the Empusa is the Praying Mantis. The 

 peasant confuses them. When, in spring, he 

 meets the mitred insect, he thinks he sees the 

 common Prego-Dieu, who is a daughter of 

 the autumn. Similar forms would seem to 

 indicate similarity of habits. In fact, led 

 away by the extraordinary armour, we 

 should be tempted to attribute to the Em- 

 pusa a mode of life even more atrocious 

 than that of the Mantis. I myself thought 

 so at first; and any one, relying upon false 

 analogies, would think the same. It is a 

 fresh error: for all her warlike aspect, the 

 205 



