i! 
OllTIIOPTERA. 559 
Blatta lapponica, devours the cured fish which the Laplanders have provided for their sustenance, in lieu 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 germanica, in his 
Essais Entomologiques. 
The third genus, that of 
Mantis, 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 their tonguelet 
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, whilst 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. 
The female fastens it to plants, or other substances elevated from the ground. 
Some have the two fore-legs much larger and longer than the others, with the coxae long, the thighs very strong, 
compressed, and armed beneath with spines, the tibiae curved, and terminated by a strong hook ; they have 
ocelli distinct, and close together in a triangle ; the first segment of the thorax is very large ; the four lobes of the 
tonguelet of nearly equal length ; the antennae 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 tibias upon the under-side of the femur [which thus becomes a most powerful raptorial instru- 
ment, not only fitted 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 regular series, and united in an ovoid 
mass or cocoon. 
[These Orthoptera, which are very numerous, have been distributed by Serville and Burmeister into a great 
number of genera, founded mostly upon external characters of form.] Latreille, however, retains them in the 
single subgenus 
Mantis proper, restricting it, however, to 
those which have no frontal horn on the head. 
Mantis religiosa, Linn, (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 
former is very common in the south of Prance 
and Italy. See the work of Stoll, and the memoir 
of Lichtenstein, in the Transactions of the Lin- 
nean Society, [also the works of Serville and Bur- 
meister]. 
Those species which have the forehead pro- 
longed into a horn, with the antennae of the males 
pectinated, form the genus Empusa, Illiger. 
The others have the fore feet similar to the hind 
ones ; the ocelli very indistinct, or wanting ; the 
first segment of the thorax shorter, or of the same 
length as the following ; the interior divisions of 
Fig. 89-Mantis, in the act of seizing a fly. with a young one just hatched. tonguelet shorter than the lateral ; the an- 
tennae 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 ; 
the two sexes often differ very widely from each other. 
They form the subgenus 
Spectrum, Stoll, — 
Which has been divided into two others. 
Phasma, Fab., comprises the species which have the 
body filiform or linear, similar to a stick, many of 
which are entirely destitute of wings, or have the wing- 
covers very short. Many large species are found in the 
Moluccas, and South America. P. Rossia, Fab., in- 
habits the South of France. 
Phyllium, Illig., has the body very flat and membranous, and the feet furnished with broad membranes. 
