a repulsive smell, and of a reddish brown colour. It is a little larger than the Blatia Americana. In France it is called by various names, such as Cafard, Panetiere^ Noirot^ Bete ftoir, &c. If in the middle of the night you suddenly enter with a light into the down-stairs kitchens, you will often see these little beasts running about on the table, and devouring the remains of the food with astonishing rapidity. The largest species of the genus of which we are now treating is the Kakerlac insigfiis, which inhabits Cayenne and Brazil, and in length sometimes exceeds an inch and three-quarters, and in the extent of its wings four inches and a half.

It is principally in hot countries that the cockroaches do the greatest damage. In the Antilles, of which they are the pest, it is affirmed that in one single night they can bore holes through trunks, through cases, and through bags, and destroy objects which were supposed to be in perfect safety. Sometimes the walls, the floors, the beds, the tables, everything, in short, is infested by them, and it is impossible to fmd a way of preserving the food from their repulsive touch. One can, however, partially succeed in destroying them by the aid of insect powders. They have, however, natural enemies. Poultry and owls are very fond of them. A species of wasp, Chlorion compressiim, lays up a stock of cockroaches, which it previously renders insensible, for its larvae. Many species of Chalcidice, a family of Hymenoptera, also live on the eggs of these Orthoptera. There are also among the cockroaches certain brightly-coloured exotic species. These colours show that they do not avoid the light. We will mention as examples the Br achy cola robusta and the species of Corydia. The Maiitidoe. are pretty insects, of very difterent habits from the preceding. They alone of the Orthoptera are carnivorous. They; eat live insects, seizing their prey as it passes by them. They rest generally on shrubs, remaining for hours together perfectly motionless, the better to deceive other insects which are to become their victims.

It is this fixed and as it were meditative attitude which lias j

gained for them the name of Mantis^ derived from the Greek word ' ftdvTis, or "diviner," as it was imagined that in this attitude they interrogated the future. The manner in which they hold their long front legs, raised like arms to Heaven, has also contributed to make this superstitious notion believed, and sufficiently explains the names given to divers species of Mantidce; such as Nun, Saint, Preacher, Suppliant, Mendicant, &c. Caillaud, a traveller, tells us that in Central Africa a Mantis is an object of worship. According to

Sparrmann, another species is worshipped by the Hottentots. If by chance a Mantis should settle oii a person, this person is con- ' sidered by them to have received a particular favour from heaven, and from that moment takes rank among the saints!

In France the country people believe that these insects point out the way to travellers. Mouffet, a naturalist of the seventeenth century, says on this subject, in a description of the Mantis — "This little creature is considered of so divine a nature, that to a child who asks ; it its way, it points it out by stretching out one of its legs, and rarely or never makes a mistake."

In the eyes of the Languedoc peasants the Mantis religiosa is almost sacred. They call it Prega-Diou {Prie-Dieu), and believe firmly that it performs its devotions — its attitude, when it is on the watch for its prey, resembling that of prayer. Settled on the ground, it raises its head and thorax, clasps together the joints of its front legs, and remains thus motionless for hours together. But only let an imprudent fly come within reach of our devotee, and you will see it stealthily approach it, like a cat who is watching a mouse, and with so much precaution that you can scarcely see that it is moving. Then, all of a sudden, as quick as Hghtning, it seizes its victim between its legs, provided with sharp spines, which cross each other, conveys it to its mouth, and devours it. Our make-believe Nun, 'iPreacher, our Prega-Diou, is nothing better than a patient watcher kjand pitiless destroyer. The Mantis religiosa (Fig. 302), common Ienough in the south of France, comes as far north as the environs of ilFontainebleau. The Mantis oratoria, rather smaller, is less commonly met with. These elegant insects are remarkable for their long slim bodies, their large wings, and their colours, which are generally very bright. In some species their green or yellowish elytra look so exactly like the leaves of trees that one can hardly help taking them for such. ! The Mantis lays its eggs at the end of summer, in rounded, very fragile shells, attached to the branches of trees; they do not hatch till the following summer. The larvae undergo several successive imoultings. Nothing equals the ferocity of these Orthoptera. If two iof them are shut up together, they engage in a desperate combat; ■they deal each other blows with their front legs, and do not leave off i fencing until the stronger of the two has succeeded in eating otf the other's head. From their very birth, the larvae attack each other. The male being smaller than the female, is often its victim.

Kirby tells us that in China the children procure them as in 67

:^90 ^ THE INSEXT WORLD.

Fig. 302. — Mantis religiosa and its larva (a). Blepharis inendica and its larva (b).

France they do cockchafers, and shut them up in bamboo cages, to enjoy the exciting spectacle of their combats.

Acaiithops, a genus of this family, inhabits the Brazils.

Akin to the Mantis are the Eroniaphilce, which live in the deserts of Africa and Arabia. They drag themselves gently along on the ground, and as they are the same colour as the sand on which they are found, it is very difficult to distinguish them when at rest. The traveller, Lefebvre, relates that he always found these Orthoptera in places destitute of all vegetation, and where there were no other sorts of insects which could have served them for food; it is therefore probable that they live on microscopic insects.

The Empiisa^ which forms another genus of Mantidce, has the antennae indented like a comb in the males, thread-like in the females. The Empiisa gongylodes, which inhabits Africa, has cufis to its arms and flounces to its robe.

The genus Blepharis, to which belongs the Bhpharis mendica^ is met with in Egypt, Arabia, and in the Canary Islands. This insect, which is of a pale green, is not rare in the south of France. It is represented with the Alafitis religiosa in Fig. 302.

The Phasniata, or Spectres, are distinguished from the Mantida by their very elongated bodies, straight and stiff as a stick, by their having no prehensile legs, and by their food, which is exclusively vegetable. Their eggs are laid uncovered, having no silky envelope. As for the habits of these insects, they are little known, the greatest number of the species being exotics, inhabiting chiefly South America, Asia, Africa, and New Holland. It is in this tribe that we meet the most extraordinary and the most monstrously shaped insects, as the popular names they have received in different countries show: such IS Spectres, Phantoms, Devil's Horses, Soldiers of Cayenne, Walking Leaves, Animated Sticks, &c.

Among the Phasmata we also find the largest insects known, for t'heyattain a considerable length, Phasma gigas nearly reaching a bot. The most beautiful are those of New Holland and of Tasmania, lUch as Cyphocrana {Phasma) gigas.

Some species are destitute of wings, and resemble so exactly dry sticks that it is impossible to tell the difference. The best known is he Bacillus (Phasma) Rossia (Fig. 303), which is found in the south )f France. This inoffensive insect walks gently along the branches )f trees, and likes to repose in the sun, its long antennae-like legs htretched out in front. Others of the genus Phy Ilium are provided Ivith wings, and have altogether the ap))earance of the leaves on vhich they live; such are the Walking Leaves of the East Indies. According to Cunningham, all these insects are of solitary and Deaceable habits. They are only to be met with alone or m pairs,

Fig 303.— Phasma Rossia— male, female, and larva.

drawing themselves gently along on shrubs, on which they pass the hottest months of the year. Some of them, when they are seized emit a milky liquid of a very strong and disagreeable odour.

Those Orthoptera which we have already mentioned had all their six legs adapted to running, and are called Ctirsoria. Those which jump, to which we now come, have their hind-legs stronger and thicker, which enables them to leap, and are on that account called Saltafoiia. This section comprises three families, which have for their principal types the Crickets, Locusts, and Grasshoppers.

All these insects resemble each other in the disproportion which exists between their hind-legs and the other pairs. Another characteristic which is common to them consists in the song of the males. This song, so well known, which seems to have for its object to call the females, is nothing but a sort of stridulation or screeching, produced by the rubbing together of the wing cases, or elytra. But the mechanism by which this is produced varies a little in all the three kinds. With the Crickets the whole surface of the wing esses is covered w^th thick nervures, very prominent and very hard, which cause the noise the insect produces in rubbing the elytra one against the other. With the Locusts, there exists only at the base of the elytra a transparent membrane called the mirror, which is furnished with prominent nervures, and produces the screeching noise. And, lastly, in the Crickets the thighs and elytra are pro voided with very hard ridges. The thighs, being passed rapidly and with force over the nervures of the elytra, produce the sound, in the same way as a fiddle-bow when drawn across the strings of a violin. In all these insects the male alone is endowed with the faculty of producing sound. The Crickets and Grasshoppers have very long and thin antennae, whilst the Locusts have short antennae, and either flattened or filiform, or swelling out at one extremity like a club. The female of the first two is provided with an ovipositor in the shape of an auger. We will study successfully the three types of these families, that is to say, the Crickets, the Locusts, and the Grasshoppers.

The Field Cricket {Gryllvs campestris, Fig. 304) lives alone in a fiole which it digs in the ground, and in which it remains during the day. It only quits its retreat at night, when it goes in search of food, [t is very timid, and at the least noise ceases its song. If it is tationed on the side of its hole, it retreats into it the moment any )ne approaches. The holes of the crickets are well known to country children, vho take these insects by presenting a straw to them. The pugnacious cricket seizes it directly with its mandibles, and lets tself be drawn out of its hole. It is this which has given rise to th^

saying, ^^ phis sot qtiun grilloii " (a greater fool than a cricket). It is very susceptible of cold, and always makes the opening of its hole towards the south. It lives on herbs, perhaps also on insects.

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