392 THE MANTIDA, OR PRAYING INSECTS. 
so faithfully represent. As if to add to the singularity of these creatures and to keep up the 
illusion, the eggs of several species are ribbed and colored precisely like the seeds of certain 
plants. 
The Phasmide embrace some very extraordinary creatures, the Walking Sticks and 
Spectres being prominent and familiar members of this family. Our North American species 
of Walking Stick (Diapheromera femorata) is not over two inches in length of body, resem- 
bling the larger species of the East Indies. 
One of the singular species which have such a wonderful resemblance to fallen leaves is 
the Lear Insect. The peculiar, leaf-like elytra, and also the singular manner in which the 
limbs are furnished with wide, flattened appendages, in order to carry out the leafy aspect, 
have often astonished people. Only the females possess the wide, veined wing-covers, those 
of the male being comparatively short. The wings, however, are entirely absent in the female, 
while in the opposite sex they are very wide and reach to the extremity of the body. One of 
these has lived for a considerable time in a greenhouse. 
THE Mantide, or Praying Insects, also belong to the Orthoptera. These creatures derive 
their name from their habit of sitting with their long and flattened fore-legs held up and joined 
as if in the attitude of prayer. The form of this insect can be best seen from the drawing. 
So remarkable an insect could not fail to be the subject of many wild fables, some of which 

PRAYING INSECT.—Mantis religiosa. (Female, and a cluster of eggs from which some Jarve are making their exit. Natural size.) 
may take rank as popular superstitions. For example, it was long thought that if any one 
lost his way in a forest and met with a Mantis, he had only to ask the insect to direct him on 
his road, when the obliging creature would stretch out one of its arms and point out the proper 
direction. According to old legends, one of these insects, being met by St. Francis Xavier 
and commanded to chant a prayer as well as to act it, responded to the request of the saint by 
singing a canticle—we presume in the Latin language. 
Unfortunately for the character of the Mantis, the real reason for holding up its feet is, to 
be in readiness for seizing its prey or to defend itself from an enemy, the creature being vora- 
cious as a wolf and combative as a game-cock. It feeds chiefly upon other insects, stealing 
upon them quietly and catching them in its claws by a rapid movement, just as the loris takes 
its winged prey ; and should it meet with another of the same sex and species, the two begin 
to fight with dauntless courage, cutting at each other with their fere-legs with the skill of 
practised swordsmen, and making their strokes so truly and with such force, that they have 
been known to sever the body of their antagonist with a single blow. The winner, that is to 
say the survivor, generally consummates his victory by devouring the body of his slaughtered 
fc ye. 
The Chinese are fond of keeping these insects in cages and matching them against each 
other like game-cocks or bull-dogs. These creatures are said by some authors to be cowardly, 
because, if ants are put into their cages, they endeavor to escape in all directions. True as 
the fact may be, the inference is quite unwarrantable, the Mantis being entirely justified in 
