Two figures o f insects, very much resembling our species, are given in the work o f
Stoll, &c. ; one kind he calls L a M a n te étroitement cornue, the other L a M a n te Chinoise
étroite cornue. The first is from the coast o f Coromandel and Tranquebar, the other, as
Its name implies, is a Chinese insect. Donovan states that he could not discover any
material difference between these figures and the specimen here figured, and was inclined
to consider them altogether as one species.
It is a considerable disadvantage to the works o f Stoll, as well as to the naturalist who
consults them, that no scientific names, or definitions, are given to the figures o f many rare
insects included amongst them, hence they have been but rarely referred to by Fabricius.
The Mantis oculata o f Fabricius is an African insect, and was described from the
collection o f the Righ t Hon. Sir J . Banks, Bart., Donovan compared his Chinese specimen
with it, and found it precisely the same species.
M A N T IS (EM PU SA ) FLABE LLICOR NIS.
P la te 9 . fig. 2.
S ub-G e n . E mpusa, L a tr e ille . G o n g y lu s , T hunbe rg.
C i i . S p . M . tho ra c is p a rte a n tic a d ila ta ta m em b ran a c e a ; femoribus antic is sp in a , reliquis lobo
te rm in a tis, anten n is pe c tin a tis. Long. Co rp . 2 ^ unc.
M . with th e fro n t o f th e th o ra x furnished with a la rg e mem brane , th e two ante rior
th ig h s te rm in a ted by a spine , and th e four poste rior by a ro u n d ed membranous
lobe , a n te n n a ; p e c tin a ted . Len g th 2 | inches.
Mantis flabellicornis, F a b r ic iu s , E n t . S y s t. II. p . 16. no. 16. S e rm lle R e v is .
O r th o p t. p . 2 1 . (Em p u s a fl.)
S y s
This Mantis is described by Fabricius only. Stoll has given the figure o f an insect
not unlike it in his p u b lica tion ; and we have seen a specimen similar to it, which was
found by Professor Pallas near the Caspian sea. It is allied to Mantis Gongyiodes,* a
native o f Africa and Asia, but bears a closer affinity to Mantis Paup eratat from Java,
Molucca, and perhaps other islands in the Indian sea.
Fabricius enumerates fifty-one species o f this genus in his last system ; a considerable
portion o f these are from Asia : had he included the America and New Holland species,
Ins genus would have been far more comprehensive. Few naturalists have had the opportunity
o f observing the manners o f these creatures in distant countries; nor can we
always rely on the information those few have given. O f the European species we can
• Serville, indeed, considers it p ossible th a t M. flabellicornis may be th e male o f M ,
t F ig u red by Stoll u n d e r th e n am e o f L a M a n te Gou tteu se B ru n e ?