OUTIIOPTERA. 



559 



Blaita lapponica, devours the cured fish which the Laplanders have provided for their sustenance, in lien of 

 bread. In our country it inhabits woods, [which leads' to the suspicion that the species thus named are not 

 identical]. M. Hummel has published a series of very interesting observations on Blatta gerinanica, in his 

 Jifisaia E II tomolo piques. 



The third genus, that of 



JIantis, Linn., — 

 Has also five joints in all the tarsi, and the -wings simply folded longitudinally, but the head is 

 exposed, and the body long and narrow ; the palpi are also short and pointed, and tlieir tonguclet 

 qiiadrifid. 



These insects are found only in temperate or hot climates, and reside upon trees or plants, often 

 resembling their leaves or twigs in the form and colour of the body, and seeking the full sun-light. 

 Some are rapacious, ^vhilst the others are herbivorous. The eggs are ordinarily inclosed in a capsule 

 of a gummy secretion, which hardens in the air, and is divided internally into a number of cells, and is 

 sometimes in the form of an oval cocoon, sometimes like a pod with angles, and sometimes spined. 

 Tlie female fastens it to plants, or other substances elevated from the ground. 



Some have the two fore-le^^s much larger and longer than the others, with the coxae long, the thighs very strong, 

 compressed, and armed beneath with spines, the tibia; curved, and ternunated by a strong hook ; they have 

 ocLdli distinct, and close together in a triangle ; the first segment of the thorax is very large ; the four lobes of the 

 tonnuelet of nearly equal length ; the antenna; inserted between the eyes, and the head triangular and vertical. 



These species are carnivorous, seizing their prey with the fore-feet, which they elevate in front of the body, and 

 quickly folding the tibiae upon the under-side of the femur [which thus becomes a most powerful raptorial instru- 

 ment, not only titled for capturing the prey, but also exactly formed for conveying it to the mouth]. The eggs 

 are very numerous, and are inclosed in the same number of cells disposed in rcgulai" series, and united in an ovoid 

 mass or cocoon. 



[These (.)rthoptera, which are very numerous, have been distributed by Serville and Burmeister into a great 

 number of genera, founded mostly upon external characters of form.] LatreiUe, however, retains them in the 



single subgeims 



Mantis proper, restricting it, however, to 

 those which have no fi'ontal horn on the head. 



Mantis rel/!/iosa,h\nn. (the Praying Mantis, or 

 Sooth-sayer), is regarded by the Turks as an 

 object of religious respect. Another species is 

 still more venerated by the Hottentots. The 

 farmer is very common in the south of France 

 and Italy. See the work of StoU, and the memoir 

 of Lichtenstem, in the Tram-actions of the Lin- 

 vean Society, [also the works of Serville and liur- 

 meister]. 



Those species which have the forehead pro- 

 lunged into a horn, with the antennje of the males 

 pectinated, form the genus Empu-so, Illiger. 



The others have the fore feet similar to the hind 



ones; the ocelli very indistinct, or wanting ; t!ie 



first segment of the thorax shorter, or of the same 



length as the following; the interior divisions of 



Fig.S9.-^Mantis.iothcftctofMdiineafly.with.younironeji.sthatcu.d. ^^^ touguclet shorter than the lateral; thean- 



tenn;e inserted in front of the eyes, and the head nearly ovoid, porrected, with the mandibles thick, and 

 the palpi compressed. These insects are of very sin- 

 gular form, and resemble either the twigs or leaves of 

 trees. They appear to feed only on vegetables, and, 

 like many of the Grasshoppers, their colours resemble 

 those of the plant on which they ordinarily reside; 

 tlie two sexes often difler very widely from each other. 



They form the subgenus 



Spectrum, Stoll, — 



Which has been divided into two others. 



P/iasma, Fab., comprises the species which have the 

 body tiliform or linear, similar to a stick, many of 

 which are entirely destitute of wings, or have the wing- 

 rovers very short. Many large species are found in the 

 ivtoluccas, and South America. P. Ros.^a, Fab., in- 

 habits the South of France. 



Phyllium, Illig., has the body very flat and membranous, and the feet furnished with oroaa memuraues, 



rig. UO.- 



1 (DiiMcnal frii|r,lis. 



