ORTHOPTERA. 



Two figures of insects, very much resembling our species, are given in the work of 

 Stoll, &c. ; one kind he calls La Mante kroitement cornue, the other La Mante Chinoist 

 etroite cornue. The first is from the coast of Coromandel and Tranquebar, the other, as 

 its name implies, is a Chinese insect. Donovan states that he could not discover any 

 material difference between these figures and the specimen here figured, and was inclined 

 to consider them altogether as one species. 



It is a considerable disadvantage to the works of Stoll, as well as to the naturalist who 

 consults them, that no scientific names, or definitions, are given to the figures of many rare 

 insects included amongst them, hence they have been but rarely referred to by Fabricius. 



The Mantis oculata of Fabricius is an African insect, and was described from the 

 collection of the Right Hon. Sir J. Banks, Bart., Donovan compared his Chinese specimen 

 with it, and found it precisely the same species. 



MANTIS (EMPUSA) FLABELLICORNIS. 



Plate 9. fig. 2. 



Sub-Gen. Empusa, Latreille. Gongylus, Thunberg. 



Ch. Sp. M. thoracis parte antica dilatata membranacea ; femoribus anticis spina, reliquis lobo 



terminatis, antennis pectinatis. Long. Corp. 2 h unc. 

 M. with the front of the thorax furnished with a large membrane, the two anterior 



thighs terminated by a spine, and the four posterior by a rounded membranous 



lobe, antennae pectinated. Length 2 J inches. 

 Syn. Mantis flabellicornis, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. II. p. 16. no. 16. Serville Revis. 



Orthopt. p. 21. (Empusa fl.) 



This Mantis is described by Fabricius only. Stoll has given the figure of an insect 

 not unlike it in his publication ; and we have seen a specimen similar to it, which was 

 found by Professor Pallas near the Caspian sea. It is allied to Mantis Gongylodes,* a 

 native of Africa and Asia, but bears a closer affinity to Mantis Pauperataf from Java, 

 Molucca, and perhaps other islands in the Indian sea. 



Fabricius enumerates fifty-one species of this genus in his last system ; a considerable 

 portion of these are from Asia : had he included the America and New Holland species, 

 his genus would have been far more comprehensive. Few naturalists have had the op- 

 portunity of observing the manners of these creatures in distant countries ; nor can we 

 always rely on the information those few have given. Of the European species we can 



* Serville, indeed, considers it possible that M. flabellicornis may be the male of M. gongylodes. 

 f Figured by Stoll under the name of La Mante Goutteuse Brune ? 



