MANTID.®. 
227 
distinct stemmata ; antennae long, filiform, and 
slender, composed of numerous joints, sometimes 
pectinated in the males ; terminal joint of the palpi 
ending in a point ,* ligula quadrifid ; tegmina thin 
and reticulated, usually covering the wings, legs un- 
equal, the anterior pair elongated, thickened, and 
armed with teeth ; tarsi five-jointed. 
This tribe includes a variety of very singular 
forms, which have received tlie name of walking 
leaves, from their resemblance in colour, form, and 
texture to these parts of vegetables. The veined and 
reticulated tegmina may even be said to represent 
the different states of leaves ; in some appearing 
but partially developed, and in others assuming the 
variety of tints which characterise the different sea- 
sons. Thus they are in some fresh and green, and 
this, as in the foliage of plants, is the prevailing hue ; 
in others they appear brown or rust-coloured, with 
the surface wrinkled and shrivelled, strongly resemb- 
ling withered or decaying leaves. The likeness is 
frequently heightened by the foliaceous expansions 
of the legs, while the long narrow shape of these 
members, and also of the thorax and abdomen, as- 
similate them, in some measure, to twigs, footstalks, 
or small branches. 
These insects are carnivorous, a disposition which 
might be inferred from the prominence of their eyes, 
size and shape of the mandibles, and their being 
fitted for rapid motion. They prey upon weaker 
individuals of their own class, and like most other 
insects of predatory habits, have a peculiar provision 
