240 
Raptokia.- 
-INSECTS.- 
-MANTID.!®. 
beds and to run along the testers in pursuit of that 
disagreeable creature. 
In the British islands we have eight or nine recorded 
species of Blattidce. Several of these, however, have 
been introduced, and two or three of them have not 
become indigenous. For instance, the Blaherus gigan- 
teus and Fanchlora madercR are only occasion- 
ally seen about our dockyards. 
Tschudi describes two Cockroaches he met 
with in Peru* as being exceedingly numerous 
and troublesome. They are well known there, 
and are named Cucaracha and Chilicahra. 
The former is found more particularly in the 
deep regions of the forest. It is an inch and 
a half long, is reddish-brown, and has a yellow 
thorax. The Chilicahra, though smaller, is 
much more numerous and mischievous. They 
get into the huts of the natives, where they 
destroy provisions, &c. It is impossible to resist 
their tormenting attacks. A small reddish- 
yellow ant called Pucchusisi by the Indians, 
pursues and destroys them. A very elegant 
little bird, like our wren, and described by 
Tschudi under the name of Troglodytes audax, 
wages war against these cockroaches. The 
Indians find the sound to resemble closely 
the words “Acahe la tarea," which in their 
language means “ My task is finished indeed, 
the)’’ have given this name to the Troglodytes 
as a mark of their observation of its usefulness 
in destroying the cockroaches. 
Section — RAPTORIA. 
Of this section there is but one family. The rapto- 
rial legs of the insect sufficiently distinguish the section. 
Fig. 144. 
F AMiLY — M ANTID.® {Soothsayers). 
The Mantidae are most frequently of a green colour 
which, as they hang on the trees watching for their 
prej', so closely resemble foliage that it is difficult 
at times to distinguish them from the leaves. In the 
Mantis and young. 
Fig. 144, copied from Rdsel, shows the Mantis eating its 
prey, and a case of the eggs with the young coming out. 
* Travels in Peru, translated by T. Ross, p. 439. 
East, the Mantis is frequently kept in little bamboo 
cages, and two are placed together by the natives, as 
they are very pugnacious, and cut at each other with 
their formidable fore feet. Fig. 4, Plate 5, represents 
the Mardis religiosa in profile. 
Roland Trimen, Esq., in an interesting letter from 
Cape Town, dated July 18th, 1860, thus records the 
history of the oviposition of a Mantis which he took 
in May. During the two months it constructed four 
nests of eggs, at intervals of about a fortnight. He 
says — “ I bad the pleasure of seeing her construct one 
of these, and was rather surprised at her method of pro- 
ceeding. I used to fancy that the eggs w’ere arranged 
first, and the structure coated over with cement after- 
wards, but I found this to be a great mistake.” The 
species he describes is grass-green ; has scarlet jaws, 
and the fore tibiae and tarsi are yellow ; a band along 
the abdomen, crimson and white. Ho adds — “ The 
nest is constructed all in a mass, that is to say, the 
eggs as thej^ emerge are completely embedded in a 
frothy cement so as to be invisible. The emission of 
L 
