THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



239 



many legends, not a few of which have 

 been handed down from very early 

 times. The old English naturalist, 

 Thomas Moffatt wrote that " they 

 resemble the Diviners in the elevation 

 of their hands, so also in likeness of 

 motion ; for they do not sport them- 

 selves as other;; do, nor leap nor play, 

 but walking softly they retain their 

 modesty and shewe for th a kind of 

 mature gravity . . .So divine a creature 

 is this esteemed that if a child aske the 

 way to such a place, she will stretch 

 out one of her feet, and show him the 

 right way, and seldom or never miss." 

 A ludicrous incident also related is that 

 St. Francis Xavier saw a mantis with 

 its legs elevated as in prayer, when he 

 desired it to sing the praises of God, 

 and the creature immediately raised 

 its voice in a beautiful canticle. 

 Further, the Roman writer, Piso, de- 

 ceived by the likeness of certain exotic 

 species of mantids to foliage or twigs, 

 thought that, when they alighted on 

 the ground, roots grew from their 

 feet so that they were gradually trans- 

 formed into perfect plants. 



STRUCTURE. 



All mantids possess a more or less 

 elongated body, which is divisible into 

 the three main regions characteristic of 

 insects — head, thorax and abdomen. 

 The head is small and can be freely 

 moved by its owner on a short and 

 flexible neck-region. From a front 

 view it roughly resembles a triangle in 

 shape, the two upper angles of which 

 are formed by the large opalescent 

 eyes. Each eye possesses a small 

 black pupil, capable of movement in 

 various directions, so that, when the 

 mantis is stalking its prey, it need 

 not betray its evil intentions by any 

 unnecessary turning of the head. Be- 

 tween the eyes on the upper half of the 

 head are two thread-like antennae, and 

 at the lower angle is situated the mouth 

 region. The thorax or chest bears the 

 three pairs of legs, and sometimes 

 two pairs of wings in addition ; these 

 latter, however, may be absent in 

 certain species. When wings are pre- 

 sent they are borne on the upper sur- 

 face of the thorax, and are usually 



smaller in females than in males. 

 The forewings (tegmina) are coarser in 

 structure and act as a protection for 

 the more delicate and gauzy hinder 

 wings, which are folded fanwise be- 

 neath them. The front legs are thick, 

 heavily armed appendages, and very 

 different from the two slender pairs 

 behind . They are usually carried folded 

 against the long anterior section of the 

 thorax (prothorax), and it is the 

 assumption of this curious posture that 

 gives one the impression of a wor- 

 shipper engaged in prayer. The ab- 

 domen is long and narrow, and divided 

 into several well-defined .segments, 

 the most posterior of which bears two 

 long jointed horns or cerci. 



The mantids are often confused with 

 the phasmids or Stick and Leaf In- 

 sects,* to which they bear a general 

 superficial resemblance. The phasmids 

 may be readily distinguished from the 

 mantids, however, by the absence of 

 any raptorial modifications of the 

 forehmbs. Again, the head is prac- 

 tically immovable, and the cerci on 

 the abdomen are unjointed. Another 

 important difference is that of diet, 

 for, in direct contrast to the carnivorous 

 habits of the mantids, the phasmids 

 feed exclusively on vegetable matter. 



PROTECTIVE IMITATION. 



Like the phasmids, the mantids have 

 been endowed by Nature with form 

 and colour which often render them 

 inconspicuous Avhen in their customary 

 surroundings. Several Indian species 

 imitate various kinds of flowers, par- 

 ticularly orchids, and are renowned for 

 their beautiful colours. In some cases 

 this resemblance is so perfect that the 

 mantids not only successfully deceive 

 their insect prey, but on several 

 occasions have misled botanists also. 

 Those inhabiting the deserts of Arabia 

 exactly match the colour of the sand, 

 and are indistinguishable at a little 

 distance. The Australian species, while 

 they do not offer such sensational ex- 

 amples of imitative colouration, simu- 

 late to a greater or lesser degree the 

 leaves or sticks among which they live. 



* See Musgrave, The Australiajst Mu- 

 seum Magazine, Vol. I., No. 6, 1922, p. 177^ 



