APPARENT EXCEPTIONS. 193 



There are some examples of this in the Class of 

 Insects, so remarkable that it is impossible to look 

 at them without ever fresh astonishment. I refer 

 to some families of the Orthopterous order, and 

 especially to some genera of the Mantidce and PJias- 

 midcs. Many species of the genus Mantis are 

 wholly modelled in the form of vegetable growths. 

 The legs are made to imitate leaf-stalks, the 

 body is elongated and notched so as to simu- 

 late a twig ; the segment of the shoulders is'spread 

 out and flattened in the likeness of a seed-vessel ; 

 and the large wings are exact imitations of a full- 

 blown leaf, with all its veins and skeleton com- 

 plete, and all its colour and apparent texture. 

 There is something startling and almost horrible 

 in the completeness of the deception — very hor- 

 rible it must be to its hapless victims. For in this 

 case the purpose of the imitation is a purpose of 

 destruction, the Mantis being a predacious insect, 

 armed with the most terrible weapons, hid under 

 the peaceful forms of the vegetable world. It is 

 the habit of these creatures to sit upon the leaves 

 which they so closely resemble apparently motion- 

 less, but really advancing on their prey with a 



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