H E M I P T E R A .
ccnfure, let us attend to the opinion o f a few authors, nearly contemporary with himfelf: we find thefe
colieded in the criticifms o f Roefel on that paffage.
From thefe it appears that the works o f Pifo were much admired when firft publiftied, but we re)y
lefs implicitly on the information it contains, than his readers in the laft centurjL Roefel treats his account
with more than merited feverity; not becaufe he could contradiift the relation of Pifo, but, becaufe he had
never obferved the fame circumftance attend tlie Wandering Leaf, or Mantis Oratoria, in E u r o p e T h i s
reafoning is neither fo conclufive, or liberal, as we fliould expeft from Roefel; and more efpecially as he
afterwards deferibes even the firft fymptom of the transformation as related by Pifo. When he fpeaks
of the death o f the European fpecies his words are, “ As their diflblution approaches, their green eyes
become brown, and they unavoidably lofe their fight: they remain a long while on the fame fpot, till at
laft they fall quite exhanfted and powerlefs, as if alleep.” Wha t is this but fubftantlathig part o f tlie evidence
o f Pifo, which he has laboured before to difcredit? As to the change after they remained long on
th e ground, fuch as fending forth fibres, roots, and ftems, from the body of the infeft, it is only aftonifliing
fuch a well-informed naturalift iliould have deemed it matter o f furprife. Could he be ignorant o f the
many inftances that occur, o f animal fubftances producing plants ' ? or was he not informed that the pupa
which commonly fends forth a bee, a wafp, or cicada, has fometimes become the nidus o f a plant, thrown
up ftems from the fore part of the head, and changed in every refpedt into a vegetable, though ftill retaining
the ihell and exterior appearance of the parent infedt at the root f ? We own a t firft fight with
Roefel that the account of Plfo feems “ an inattentive and confounded obfer\’ation,” b u t th a t an infedt
may ftrike root into the earth, and, from the co-operation o f heat, and moifture, congenial to vegetation,
produce a plant of the cryptogamia kind, cannot be difputed. We have feen fpecies of clccvaria both of the
undivided and branched kinds, four times larger than the infedt from which they fprang; and can we then
deny th a t the infedt mentioned by Plfo might not produce a plant o f a proportionate magnitude? In Ihort,
are we fo well acquainted with the produaions o f Brafil as to contradia any o f his aflertions, concerning
this transformation? Pifo does not fay of what kind this vegetable was; it muft furely be of the fungi
We quote this part of the poem at length; for as we perufe it, every fucceffivc line bears aftroiiger fimilitude Co the wonderful transformation
of the Mantis as related by ; we might be almoft tempted to condemn thc defcription of the naturalift as a fervile copy of Ovid's
verfes, if the fimilar transformation of other infcils above noticed, had not occurred to the knowledge of every entomologift.
<1 Among the annotations on the laft edition of Rocfel’s Infiacn Bellufigmg we find one relating to this part of thc works of Pifo.
« Bcrfecl Her geht'ime Rath TrnB, See. Counf. Trew affures Mr, Roefel that Ri/i not only very often gave out the credible obfcrvaCions
of others, as his own, but himfelf believed the moft incredible relations, and pretended to be an eye witncfs thereof.” Wc quote this in
juftiee to the remarks of Roefel. Note in page lo , Jeaion Das IVandlendi Blat.
« Such as M'JCor cruftaceus, icc.
f Specimens of rhcfe vegetated animals, are frequently brought from thc Weft Indies; wc have one of the cicada from the pupa, as
well as others produced from wafps and bees in the perfea or winged ftate. Mr. Drury has a beetle in the pcrfeft ftate, from every pari of
which, fmall ftalks and fibres have fprouted forth; they are very different from the tofts of hair th.it are obferved on a few colcoptcioiis
¡afefts, fuch as the Buprcftis fafcicularis, of the Cape of Good Hope ; they are certainly a vegetable produ£kion.
H E M I P T E R A .
kind: reafoning then from analogy, it might be an unknown fpecies o f clavarla with numerous and
f p r e a d in g branches; and, finally, the colour o f his plant, on which authors lay much ftrefs, might be
green, though a colour not fo predominant in that tribe o f vegetables as fome others.
The largeft and moft interefting o f the Indian fpecies o f Mantis is found in the ifle o f Amboyna. Stoll
contradiiSts the account of Renard g, who fays thefe creatures are fometimes thirteen inches in length; but
we have a fpecimen almoft o f that fize. It is related by Renard, and others, that the larger kinds o f Mantes
go in vaft troops, crofs hills, rivers, and other obftacles th at oppofe tlieir march, when they are in queft o f
food. I f they fubfifted entirely on vegetables, a troop o f thefe voracious creatures would defolate the land
in their excurfions; but they prefer infedts, and clear the earth o f myriads that infeft it: i f thefe become
fcarce from their ravages, they fight and devour one another. When they attack the plants, they do
great mifchief. I t is faid o f fome Locufts and Mantes th at the plants they bite wither, and appear as if
fcorched with fire: we have not heard o f this peftilentiai property in any of the larger fpecies o f M an te s..
O f the fmaller kinds, the Mantis Oratoria is the moft widely diffufed, being found in Africa and Afia
as well as in all the warmer parts of Europe. Thefe creatures are efteemed facred by the vulgar in many
countries, from their devout or fupplicating pofture. The Africans worihip them; and their trivial names
in m an j European languages imply a fuperftitious refpedl for them *>.
England produces no fpecies of this tribe. The entomologifts in this country muft confequently rely
on the accounts of thofe, who have obferved them in other parts o f the world. W e ihall feleft a few
remarks from Rocfel's extenfive defcription o f Mantis Oratoria and Gongyloides, becaufe, if we may prefume
from tlie analogy they bear in form to Mantis Flabellicornis, the hiftory o f one will clearly elucidate
that o f the other.
Roefel fays, fome o f the Mantes are local in Germany; they are found chiefly in the vintages a t Moedting
in Moravia, where they are called W d n h a n d e l The males die in Odober, the females foon afte r The
young brood are preferved in the egg ftate, in a kind o f oblong bag, o f a thick fpongy fubftance; this bag
is imbricated on the outfidej it is faftened lengthwife to the branch o f fome plant *. As the eggs ripen
they are protruded through the thick fubftance o f the bag, aud the larva, which are about h a lf an inch
in length, burft from them. Roefel, wiihing to obferve the gradual progrefs o f thefe creatures, to the
winged ftate, placed the bag containing the eggs in a large glafs, which he clofed, to prevent their efcapc.
From the time they were firft hatched they exhibited marks of a favage difpofition. He p u t different forts
of plants into the glafs, but they refufed them, to prey on one another: this determined him to fupply
them with other infcds to e a t: he put ants into the glafs to them, b u t they then betrayed as much cow.
I Poiffons dcs Molucquis par M. Renard, Arnfterl. 175+, h Louva Dioi by the Portuguefe. Prefquc Dieu by thc French.
Probably a provincial term for a dealer in wine. k Goetz, in his Beytrage, obferves, that they live fometimcs ten yea«,
' To that of the vine in Mantis Oratoria.