STRAIGHT-- WING ED INSECTS 
293 
the bedside bristling with horns, and these were cockroaches some three 
inches long. The drawing-room was gorgeous with yellow satin, and 
the magnificent yellow curtains were sprinkled with these crawling 
things. The consequence was that I used to stand on a chair and 
scream. This annoyed Richard very much. ‘ A nice sort of traveler 
and companion are going to make,’ he said; ‘ I suppose you diink 
you look very pretty and interesting standing on that chair and 
howling at those innocent creatures.’ This hurt me so much that, 
without descending from the chair, I stopped screaming, and made a 
meditation like St. Simon Stylites on his pillar; and it was, ‘ That if I 
was going to live in a country always in contact with these and worse 
things, though I had a perfect horror of anything black and crawling, 
it would never do to go on like that.’ So I got down, fetched a basin 
of water and a slipper, and in two hours by the watch I had knocked 
ninety-seven of them into it. It cured me. From that day I had no 
more fear of vermin and reptiles, which is just as well in a country 
where Nature is over-luxuriant. A little while after we changed our 
Ti iTiTi 1^ Vcr^f similar in its habits to 
rooms we were succeeded by Lord and Lady Lytton, and, to my the cockroach 
infinite delight, I heard the same screams coming from the same room 
a little while after. ‘ There,’ I said in triumph, ‘ you see I am not the only woman who 
does not like cockroaches.’ ” 
The dimensions of the insects are not so much exaggerated ; for I believe this story refers 
to the large reddish cockroach, which is common in many cities, although only in warehouses. 
It does not usually much exceed an inch in length ; but the antennae are very long, and the 
wing-cases expand nearly 3 inches. (See photograph on page 689.) 
The Soothsayers, or Praying-insects, are not British, though one or two species are found 
in the south of Europe. They have long fore legs, the shanks of which are set with a double 
row of long, curving, sabre-like spines, and when at rest they 
hold them up as if in the attitude of prayer ; but they are 
really on the look-out for prey, and the long spines are admirably 
adapted for wounding or grasping the insects which form their 
food. They also fight fiercely among themselves, and it is no 
uncommon occurrence for a female to tear to pieces and devour 
her mate, either during or after their courtship. The soothsayers 
are often of a green colour, so as to match the grass and leaves 
among which they live, and thus conceal them from their prey. 
The Stick-insects, or Spectre-insects, have some resem- 
blance to the Soothsayers, but are exclusively vegetable-feeders, and 
have long, sprawling legs, or shorter ones, sometimes more or less 
lobate ; but they never possess prehensile fore legs for seizing prey. 
The wing-cases are generally quite small ; but some species have 
beautiful large green or pink wings, folded fan-wise, and covered by 
the stout front border of the wing. Many species are wingless, 
and of a grey or brown colour, which renders them scarcely distin- 
guishable from dry bits of stick ; and among these is the largest living 
insect known, a grey stick-like species from Borneo, measuring 
nearly 13 inches from head to tail. Other species have curious 
excrescences on the legs and body, which make them look like 
bits of wood overgrown with moss or lichen ; while others possess 
large flat lobes growing from the legs and body, which cause them 
to be almost indistinguishable from green leaves; and, indeed, 
these insects are frequently called “ Walking Leaves,” 
?htu 9 W. P Dando, F. Z. S. 
MOLE-CRICKET 
hro*wn insect about 2 inches long. 
The ‘very broad and fiat front legs 
are used for hur*‘0‘wing 
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photo by H', P T)ando^ F.Z,S, 
HOUSE-CRICKET 
