Ills plant, on which authors lay much stress, might be green, though a colour not so
predominant in that tribe o f v egetables as some others.*
The largest and most interesting o f the Indian species o f Mantis is found in the isle o f
Amboyna. Stoll contradicts the account o f Rena rd ,-\ who says these creatures are
sometimes thirteen inches in len g th ; but we have a specimen almost o f that size.J It is
r ekted by Renard, and others, that the larger kinds o f Mantes g o in vast troops, cross
lulls, rivers, and other obstacles that oppose their march, when they are in quest o f food.
I f they subsisted entirely on vegetables, a troop o f these voracious creatures would desolate
the land m their excursions; but they prefer insects, and clear the earth o f myriads
that infest i t : if these become scarce from their ravages, they fight and devour one
another. When they attack the plants, they do great mischief. It is said o f some
Locusts and Mantes that the plants they bite wither, and appear as i f scorched with f ir e :
we have not heard o f this pestilential property in any o f the larger species o f Mantes.
O f the smaller kinds, the Mantis Oratoria is the most widely diffused, being found in
Africa and Asia as well as in all the warmer parts o f Europe. These creatures are
esteemed sacred by the vulgar in many countries, from their devout or supplicating
posture. The Africans worship them; and their trivial names in many European lan“-
guages imply a superstitious respect for them.§
England produces no species o f this tribe. The entomologists in this country must
consequently rely on the accounts o f those, who have observed them in other parts o f the
world. W e shall select a few remarks from R o e se l’s extensive description o f Mantis
Oratoria and Gongyloides, because, if we may presume from the analogy they bear in
form to Mantis Flabellicornis, the history o f one will clearly elucidate that o f the other
Roesel says, some o f the Mantes are local in Germany; they are found chiefly in the
vintages at Moedting in M o ra v ia , where they are called Weinhandd. || The males die m
October, the females soon after.K The you n g brood are preserved in the eg g state, in a
kind o f oblong bag. o f a thick spongy su b stan ce; this bag is imbricated on the outside ■
♦ Tliese a r ^ m e n t s o f D o n o v an , a lth o u g h snCSeiently ingenious, prove only th e a c c id en ta l possibility o f th e
i r a fu r r •“ I"' * * "»‘"« of th»
+ Poissons de s Molucques p a r M. R en a rd , Amsterl. 1754.
} D onovan h e re evidently allude s to some o f th e Phasmidse.
§ L ouva Dios b y th e P o rtu g u e s e . P rie Dieu by th e Fren c li.
II P ro b ab ly a provincial te rm for a d e a le r in wine.
IT Goetz, in his B ey trag e , observes, th a t they live sometimes ten years.
O R T H O P T E R A .
it is fastened lengthwise to the branch o f some plant.* A s the e g g s ripen they are
protruded through the thick substance o f the bag, and the larva, which are about h a lf an
inch in length, burst from them. Roesel, wishing to observe the gradual progress o f these
creatures, to the winged state, placed the bag containing the eg g s in a large glass, which
he closed, to prevent their escape. From the time they were first hatched they exhibited
marks o f a savage disposition. He put different sorts o f plants into the glass, but they
refused them, preying on one another: this determined him to supply them with other
insects to e a t : he put ants into the g la ss to them, but they then betrayed as much
cowardice as they had barbarity before; for the instant the Mantes saw the ants they
tried to escape in every direction. B y this Roesel found the ants were the greatest
persecutors o f the Mantes. H e next gave them some o f the common musca (house flies),
which they seized with eagerness in their fore claws, and tore in p ie c e s : but, though
these creatures seemed very fond o f the flies, they continued to destroy one another
through savage wantonness. Despairing a t last, from their daily decrease, o f rearing any
to the winged state, he separated them into small parcels in different g la s s e s ; but here,
as before, the strongest o f each community destroyed the rest.
Another time, he received several pairs o f M antes in the winged state ; profiting by his
former observation, lie put each pair [a male and female] into a separate gla ss, but they
still shewed signs o f an eternal enmity towards one another, which neither sex nor age
could soften ; for the instant they were in sigh t o f each other, they threw up their heads,
brandished their fore legs, and waited the attack : they did not remain long in this posture,
for the boldest throwing open its wings, with the velocity o f lightning, rushed at the
other, and often tore it in pieces with the crockets and spines o f the fore claws. Roesel
compares the attack o f these creatures to that o f two h u ssa r s; for they dexterously guard
and cut with the ed g e o f the fore claws, as those soldiers do with their sabres, and sometimes
at a stroke one cleaves the other through, or severs its head from the thorax. After
this the conqueror devours his vanquished antagonist.]'
W e learn from Roesel also, the manner in which this creature takes its prey, in which
respect we find it agrees with what is related o f the extra European species. The
patience o f this Mantis is remarkable, and the posture to which superstition has attributed
devotion, is no other than the means it uses to catch it. When it has fixed its ey es on an
• T o th a t o f tlie vine b y Mantis Ora to ria .
t T h e Chinese ta k e a d v an tag e o f the se savage propensitie s, a n d k e ep the se pu g n a c eo n s insects in little
bamboo c age s, tra in in g th em to fight for prizes, as cocks a re fo n g h t in th is c o u n try . This custom is so com .
mon, th a t, a c co rd in g to Mr. Ba rrow, (Travels in C hina ) “ d a rin g tlie sum m e r m onths, sc a rc e ly a boy is to be
e o f th e se se en w ith o u t his c in s e c ts .” ( J . 0 . W .)