ORTHOPTERA. 149 
M. Hummel, member of the Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosce., in the first 
number of his Entomological Essays, has given us various interest- 
ing observations on the history of the B. germanica, Fab., a species 
of a light reddish or fulvous colour, with two black lines on the 
thorax *. 
Mantis, Lin., 
Where we also find five joints in all the tarsi, and wings simply 
plaited longitudinally ; but the head is exposed, and the body narrow 
and elongated. 
They also differ from the Blatte in their short palpi terminating in 
a point, and in their quadrifid ligula. 
These insects, which are only found in southern and temperate 
climates, remain on plants or trees, frequently resemble their leaves 
and branches in the form and colour of the body, and are diurnal. 
Some of them are rapacious and others herbivorous. Their eggs are 
usually enclosed in a capsule formed of some gummy substance, 
which hardens by exposure to the air, and divided internally into 
severals cells ; it is sometimes in the form of an oval shell, and at 
others in that of a seed, with ridges and angles, and even bristled 
with little spines. The female glues it on a plant or other body 
raised above the earth. Their stomach resembles that of a Blatta, 
but their intestines are shorter in proportion fT. 
In some, the two anterior legs are larger and longer than the 
others, the coxze and thighs stout, compressed, armed with spines un- 
derneath, and the tibiz terminated by a strong hook. They have 
three simple, distinct eyes, approximated into a triangle. The first 
segment of the trunk is very large, and the four lobes of the ligula 
are almost equal in length. The antenne are inserted between the 
eyes, and the head is triangular and vertical. 
These species are carnivorous, and seize their prey with their fore 
legs, which they raise upwards or extend forwards, flexing the tibie 
with great quickness on the under part of the thigh. Their eggs, 
which are numerous, are enclosed in a corresponding number of 
cells, arranged in regular series, and united in an ovoid mass. 
They form the subgenus 
MantTIs proper. 
Those in which the front is prolonged into a sort of horn, and in 
which the antennz of the male are pectinated, are the Empusm of 
_‘Iihger. The extremity of their thighs is furnished with a rounded 
* For the other species, see De Geer, Ib.; Fab.; Oliv., Encyc. Méthod. ; Fuels., 
Arch. Insect., tab. xlix, 2--11; Coqueb., Illust. Icon. Insect., III, xxi, 1; B. paci- 
fica, and Touss. Charpent., Hore Entomol., p. 71—78. As to the Blatta acervorum 
of Panzer, see the subgenus MyrMeEcopuita of the following family. Those 
Blattz in which one of the sexes at least is destitute of wings, such as the B. orien- 
talis, and the B. limbata, and B. decipiens, of Hummel, in our Faun. Nat. du Regn, 
Anim., form the genus KAKERLAC. 
+ Excellent anatomical observations on these Insects are given by M. Marcel de 
Serres in the Mem. du Mus. d’Hist. Naturelle. 
