INSECTS. 
184 
them like the blade of a knife. The tarsi of all the legs are five-jointed. These 
insects usually have two pairs of wings, of which the fore-wings, or elytra, are 
ordinarily of the length of the abdomen. The characteristic posture which these > 
insects assume when resting on a tree or shrub with their prothorax raised, and 
the fore-legs doubled up in front of them, accounts for their common names of 
soothsayers and praying insects. They are amongst the most predaceous and 
bloodthirsty of creatures, living on flies and other insects, which they seize with 
their raptorial fore-legs, in the manner shown in the illustration. Mantidce 
are chiefly found in the warmer parts of the world, but a few species occur 
in South Europe. The best known of these is the figured Mantis religiosa. 
Some species, such as the African Harpax ocellata, shown on the coloured 
PRAYING INSECT SEIZING A FLY. 
The egg-case and some of the escaping larvae are shown at the left-hand side of the figure. 
Plate, are curiously marked, while others are prettily coloured. The colours are 
sometimes so disposed that the insect in its resting attitude resembles a flower, 
and thus draws towards it other insects, which, when they have approached near 
enough, are suddenly caught, as if in a trap, by the arms of the deceiver. 
The cockroaches (Blattidce) constitute one of those families in 
Cockroaches. . 
which the legs are more specially fitted for running. They have a 
rather short head, with a large, flat face, looking slightly downwards, and the 
mouth brought close to the prosternum. The eyes are large and compound, and 
in the place usually occupied by the lateral ocelli there are often to be seen 
two pale soft spots in the integument. The long and tapering antennae are 
inserted close to the eyes, and composed of a stouter basal joint, followed by a 
number of short joints. The strong and horny jaws are toothed or spined on the 
inner side, and thus well adapted to biting; and the head is scarcely visible from 
above, being overlapped by the large, shield-like plate of the prothorax. The legs 
are long, with spiny tibiae, and end in five-jointed tarsi. The pulvillus, which pro¬ 
jects between the tarsal claws of these and many other insects, constitutes a sixth 
joint, although not usually reckoned as such. Cockroaches are generally provided 
with two pairs of wings, the front pair being stiff* and horny, while the hind pair 
