218 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN, 
inside of the box. In this trap she caught many 
cockroaches, for after getting in they could not mount 
on the glass again to get out. But one evening, 
having noticed that the trap was nearly full before 
she went to bed, she was surprised in the morning to 
find that all the bait was eaten, and every single 
insect had escaped. This happened several nights, 
and at last she resolved to watch. On doing so she 
saw one of the larger cockroaches stand upon his 
tail, and so reach up with his front feet to the edge 
of the glass, and then all the other cockroaches ran 
up his back out of the box, he dragging himself up 
last and escaping with the rest In the open country 
cockroaches have many enemies which keep them in 
check ; birds and hedgehogs devour them, and bees, 
ants, and wasps, especially the sand-wasps, hunt them 
down ; but in our houses nothing but cleanliness and 
killing every one we meet with can rid us of this 
terrible pest. 'J- 
And now we must pass over the other straight- 
winged insects : the Earwig, which uses its pincers to 
fold its wings neatly under its wing cases and watches 
over its eggs with a mother's care ; the Mantis or 
snatching insect, which in warm countries creeps along 
the branches of trees with its forelegs up as if pray- 
ing, but really in readiness to snatch any passing fly 
or insect; and the Leaf and Stick insects, which feed 
on green leaves, and are protected from the birds by 
looking so exactly like the leaves and stems of the 
trees they crawl upon, that you may touch them 
without dreaming that they are living animals. All 
these are wonderful examples of the tricks which life 
has taught to her children for protection and attack, 
