MANTIDiE. 
231 
find a congenial climate. Europe is more sparingly 
provided with them than the other great divisions of 
the earth, having only a few species, and most of these 
of small size. One of these, however, (M. Parana, 
a species not exceeding eight or nine lines in length,) 
is found as far north as Francfort on the Maine ; but 
its occurence, even in a more northern latitude than 
this on the Continent, does not authorise us to expect 
to meet with it in our insular situation. We, accord- 
ingly, find that there is no representative of this 
family in Britain. They first become common in 
what has been called, in Zoological geography, the 
Mediterranean region, (including the southern coasts 
of France, Spain, Italy, Turkey in Europe, Greece, 
the coasts of Asia Minor, Syria, and the northern 
shores of Africa, as far as 30 p ,) which is characterised 
by numerous entomological peculiarities ; and even 
here, though individuals abound, there is no great 
diversity of species. Many large and conspicuous 
mantes inhabit the East Indies and other parts of 
Asia ; numerous species also occur in America, and 
not a few are found at the Cape of Good Hope. 
Among the latter is one of the smallest of the family, 
M. PusiUa , which scarcely exceeds the dimensions 
of Raphidia Ophiopsis ;* some of the largest kinds, 
* The resemblance of some of the smaller mantes to this 
neuropterous insect is not inconsiderable, and even a closer 
analogy may be traced between them and the genus Mantispa, 
the latter possessing falciform fore- legs, the want of which in 
Raphidia, forms the most prominent distinction in such a 
comparison. All of these insects have the unusual property 
of being able to elevate the thorax almost to a right angle with 
the abdomen. 
