ENTOMOLOGY. 



vegetable food, laying their eggs like Grasshoppers, in the 

 earth ; the females being furnished with a style for deposit- 

 ing them, of an ensiform figure, and covered by lcahVls. 

 which are found on the last division of the abdomen : the 

 Mantis, on the contrary, confine themselves intirely to food 

 taken from the animal kingdom ; their falciform hands serv- 

 ing to catch and carry to their mouths the flies and other 

 small insects which they devour ; with regard to their meta- 

 morphosis, they never lay their eggs in the earth, but fix 

 them on a twig, straw, or blade of grass, and these in rows or 

 regular masses. 



The insect at present figured, is from a specimen in 

 Mr. Bullock's Museum, and has a striking resemblance to 

 the form of a leaf in its wings and coverings, called the 

 Hemelytra). This curious circumstance, giving to the ani- 

 mal the appearance of a bunch of dead leaves, is undoubt- 

 edly intended for its preservation and providential escape 

 from birds or enemies who would attack it ; its colours and 

 form serving as a complete disguise. The providence of 

 Nature is indeed very obvious in the same way in many 

 other instances of the animated creation ; thus the insect 

 kingdom are found generally to be of a similar colour and 

 appearance to the objects upon which they feed, which 

 serves as a preventive check upon their ultimate destruction, 

 which otherwise might too fatally ensue. Thus partly by 

 means of defence, and partly by means of disguise and 

 escape by flight, or other natural means, these small and 

 seemingly insignificant creatures elude the attacks of their 

 incroaching and formidable adversaries. The colour of the 

 wings of these insects is infinitely varied, sometimes green, 

 red, or brown, but always bearing a strong resemblance to 

 the general form of a leaf; and hence they have received 

 their characteristic name. 



