230 
SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT. 
made by Dr. Shaw in relation to M. viatoria , but 
they are equally applicable to the whole tribe : — “ In 
its real disposition it is very far from sanctity, preying 
with great rapacity on all the smaller insects which 
fall in its way, and for which it lies in wait with 
anxious assiduity, in the posture before mentioned, 
seizing them with a sudden spring when within its 
reach, and devouring them. It is also of a very pug- 
nacious nature, and when kept with others of its own 
species in a state of captivity, will attack its neigh- 
bours with the utmost violence, till one or other is 
destroyed in the contest. Roesel, who kept some of 
these insects, observes, that in their mutual conflicts 
their manoeuvres very much resemble those of hussars 
fighting with sabres ; and sometimes one cleaves the 
other through at a single stroke, or severs the head 
from the body. During these engagements, the wings 
are generally expanded, and when the battle is over 
the conqueror devours his antagonist.*' 
This pugnacious disposition is so strong in many 
of the species, that in China and other eastern coun- 
tries, the inhabitants amuse themselves by making 
them fight like game-cocks. They are kept in small 
bamboo cages, and fed on soft skinned insects ; and 
a set-to between these puny adversaries is said to be 
regarded with as much interest as a regular main at 
Fives-court. 
The mantidse are confined to the tropical and tem- 
perate regions of the globe. The former possesses 
by far the greater proportion of them, and it is only 
in the southern parts of the latter that they seem to 
