7 i2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



forefathers what could the upraised and crossed arras indicate but an 

 attitude of devotion ? 



The name mantis (diviner) was given to this insect, it is said, 

 by the Greeks, in accordance with the notion that, when the creature 

 assumes its peculiar attitude of meditation, it is engaged in the con- 

 templation of futurity. Naturalists have encouraged the superstition 

 by giving names to the different species which imply some kind of 

 sanctity ; thus, we have Mantis oratoria, Mantis religiosa, Mantis su- 

 perstitiosa, etc. With the French it is the Prega-Dieu (that prays to 

 God), Le Precheur (the preacher) ; with the Germans it is Gottesan- 

 beterin (worshiper of God), while the English-speaking nations have 

 dubbed it the Praying Insect. The names familiarly given to it in 

 Southern Europe are sufficiently expressive of the veneration with 

 which it is regarded — nun, saint, suppliant, mendicant, etc. "In the 

 eyes of the Languedoc peasants," says Figuier, " the Mantis religiosa 

 is held sacred, and they firmly believe that it performs its devotions." 

 Mr. Spicer, writing in Science Gossip, remarks : " Nor was this feeling 

 of veneration confined to the nations of Europe. At the present day 

 (and doubtless it was the same in old times also) a Mantis is an object 

 of worship with certain tribes of North Africa." Sparmann also tells 

 us (" Travels in Africa ") that " in the southern part of the same conti- 

 nent it is venerated by the Hottentots ; and that, should one of these 

 insects chance to settle on an individual, he is looked upon in the light 

 of a saint, and as specially favored by Heaven." 



That the superstition should have gone to greater lengths than 

 mere inference was natural : somebody was certain to make the mantis 

 open his mouth and give audible expression to his devout sentiments. 

 Of course we should expect this in the middle ages, when credulity 

 was unbounded, and there was a universal belief in the semi-divine 

 nature of this wicked bug. " The great Saint Francis Xavier is said 

 to have held a conversation with one which he came across in a forest, 

 and to have induced it to chant a hymn ! " 



Dr. James Mann, author of the " Guide to the Knowledge of Life," 

 and who was for some years superintendent of education in the prov- 

 ince of Natal, South Africa, has written a very interesting account of 

 the insects of that region, which was published in the Intellectual Ob- 

 server, and from that article we quote the following passage regarding 

 the mantis, from which it will be seen that the insect still contrives to 

 keep up its theological reputation : " Of orthopterous Natal insects, the 

 large green mantis is certainly a distinguished chief. He is a very 

 remarkable fellow, powerful alike upon wing and leg, but much given 

 to fits of lethargy and brown study. His traditional religious exer- 

 cise, indeed, is simply a lying in wait for what the gods may send in 

 the way of food. He fixes himself, as if in rapt contemplation, upon 

 some convenient stalk or leaf, and then bends up his chest and shoul- 

 ders into an almost erect position, pressing together his arms in front, 



