THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
269 
contemporaneously. 
F urther researches will, I have no doubt, lead 
to other discoveries, and it will therefore suffice 
for the present to simply place on record these, 
the first tangible evidences of the former occur- 
rence of carnivore in the Maltese area. 
Geological Magazine. 
The Siikworm in Malta. 
It is now nearly 40 years ago since the first at- 
tempts were made to establish a silk producing 
industry in these islands. 
Dr. Phipson, who •was closely associated with 
the experiments that were then made, furnishes us 
with some interesting information regarding them 
in his little work on the “Utilization of Minute 
Life' 1 , in the course of which he tells us that” In 
1B54 The Governor of Malta made several reports 
upon the Borah y.j: Cynthia for the information of 
the Society of Arts. It had been introduced into 
Malta from India that year, and appeared hard 
and wonderfully prolific. Yet it failed in 1855. 
The author of these observations had, however, 
previously distributed its eggs throughout Italy, 
France, and Algeria, and, continuing to watch 
the trials made in these countries, he found that 
the new silkworm had flourished and had been 
carried into Spain and Portugal. 
He therefore reintroduced it into Malta. At 
the end of July 1857 he received a few eggs by 
post in a quill from Paris, and these multiplied in 
an extraordinary manner. The winter season 
(December) appeared to affect the caterpillars even 
in Malta where they grew slower but nevertheless 
appeared to be healthy. Considering the dearth 
of practical, and profitables industries in the 
islands this subject might well engage the atten- 
tion the Malta Saciety of Arts and Industries. 
Mantidae 
When we hear the word “locust” we immediately 
think of devastated fields, famine, and despairing- 
human beings, and we also remember what we 
were taught during our first years at school about 
Moses, Pharaoh. <md the seven plagues. But we 
are unjust when we class all the genera of orthopter 
together, as they are not all “vegetarians” to be 
dreaded by the farmer and gardener. We must / 
divide them into two groups, the jumpers and the 
walkers. The members of the former group, to 
which the ill-famed migratory' locusts and the 
common green grasshopper belong, live on plants, 
although they do not scorn an occasional fat cater- 
pillar; and they are quick in their movements, 
flying and jumping, for their long legs permit this 
latter movement. The males make a peculiar ' 
whirring or chirping sound. Those of the second 
group, which includes the praying mantis and the 
specter or walking stick, are not musical. . They 
move deliberately, fly little or are entirely incapa- 
ble of flying, and live exclusively on insects or 
exclusively on plants. The mantis is one of the 
insect eaters. 
The mantidae are voracious creatures of prey, 
and like all of this character, live alone. They are 
the oddest of insects. Their wings lie close, the 
posterior wings overlapping slightly instead of me- 
eting like the parts of a roof, as do those of the/ 
grasshopper; the foremost breast wing is lengthe- 
ned considerably and carries the little ' head with 
its great eyes and short feelers; but their fore legs 
constitute their most noteworthy feature. There 
is nothing peculiar about the two other pairs of 
legs, they are simply rather slender limbs which 
permit a slow movement; but the forelegs, which, 
are never used in going from place to place, are so 
constructed as to serve as formidable weapons. The 
hip portions are unusually long, and the thighs 
pressed together sidewise and furrowed lengthwise 
underneath. The sharp edged second joint fit’s, 
into this furrow, that is provided on the edges with 
pointed prickers, as the blade fits into the handle 
of a pocket knife. These legs are their graspers, , 
and the only creature that has anything similar is 
the lobster. The mantis does not touch these 
legs to the ground, but holds them closed in such 
an amusing attitude that he has received a list 
of undeserved names from the people; such aS; ' 
Gottesanbeterin in German, Louvadios in Port- 
ugese, Preque dieu or Precheur in French dialect, 
and in English praying mantis or soothsayer. All 
of these names indicate a misunderstanding of the 
object with which the creature holds its fore legs 
folded and raised; it would seem as if it were pray- 
ing, but, in reality, this is only the mean mask of 
