ZOOLOGY 
373; 
legs folded up alongside its immensely elongated pro-thorax, the body gently 
swaying to and fro. When an insect approaches and is within reach, the mantis 
darts its fore limbs forwards and catches the creature between tibia and femur. 
It then advances the prey to the mandibles of its mouth and tears it away 
again, thus biting off portions. It is a nasty insect to lay hold of as it can give 
one’s fingers a very sharp prick with the teeth of its huge fore limbs. No one 
ordinarily would have a desire to meddle with the mantis, but the mantis 
unfortunately will not leave you alone at night. Attracted by the light of your 
lamp it flies in circles around it and you, generally ending by settling on your 
hair or hand, looking at you with its huge green eyes and ready at any offensive 
movement on your part to tweak your ear or your finger. Fortunately the 
race, 
of slaughter. 
ferocity of the mantis (though 
it is said by some naturalists 
to be able to kill small birds) 
is mainly directed against its 
own hateful class, and it kills 
enormous numbers of insects, 
many more than it can eat; 
being in this respect the 
leopard of the insect 
killing for love 
The stick-insects ( Phas - 
midce) are very abundant 
in the long grass, and some 
of them imitate the yellow 
stems and grey leaflets of 
the sun-dried herbage with 
the most marvellous accuracy. 
Others simulate small dead branches with off-shoots and thorns, the main 
branch being mottled with spots like lichen. This tribe produces the largest 
insects of the present day, some of the Phasmidce attaining to a length of 
eighteen inches. It is not uncommon to meet with them in British Central 
Africa a foot long. I give an illustration (page 372) of one obtained at Zomba. 
This is probably a species of Palophus , and measured nine inches in length. 
Locusts are represented by many species some of which are brightly 
coloured red—black and yellow, or blue and yellow. Others are a beautiful 
grass-green. 1 The indigenous grasshopper does not do an extravagant amount 
of harm. It is as I have already stated a red species of locust (probably 
Pachytylus migratorioides) from the north which has recently committed such 
ravages and has passed on in swarms to the south. 
A LOCUSTID INSECT 
(Probably Dolichopoda ) 
1 Lociistida:. Some of the Locustida have enormously long antennae. I give an illustration of one 
drawn from life in Central Africa. Others of these Locustida imitate leaves in a wonderful manner ; 
others again with long green bodies have large wings of vivid rose-pink, the wing cases, however, being 
green so that the creature is only visible to the eye amongst the grass when it takes to flight. 
