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Show 8 INSECTA. These Insects, which are only found in southern and te.mperate ch·m ates, remam· on Pl ants or trees ' frequently resemble their ·l eaves and branches in the form and colour of the body, and are ~Iurna1. Some of them are rapacious and others herbivorous. Thetr eggs are usually enclosed in a capsule formed of so~~ gu~my subst~nce which hardens by exposure to the air, and diVIded mternally mto several cells; it is sometimes in the form of an oval shel1, a~d at others in that of a seed, with ridges and angles, and even bnstled w1· t 11 1I' tt1 e spm· es. 'fl1e female glues it on a plant or other body raised above the earth. Their stomach resembles that of a Blatta, but their intestines are shorter in proportion( 1 ). In some, the two anterior legs are larger and longer. than. the others, the coxre and thighs stout, compressed, armed With spmes underneath and the tibire terminat,ed by a strong hook. They have three simpl'e, distinct eyes, approximated into a triangle. The. first segment of the trunk is very large, and the four lobes of the hgula are almost equ111 in length. The antennre are inserted between the eyes, and the head is triangulat• and vet:tical. . . . These species are carnivorous, and setze their prey WI.th their ~o~e legs, which they raise upwards or extend forward.s, flexmg :he tlbu with great quickness on the under part of the thtgh. Their eggs, which are numerous, are enclosed in a corresponding number of cells, arranged in regular series, and united in an ovoid mass. They form the subgenus MANTIS proper. Those in which the front is prolonged into a sort of horn, and in which the antennre of the male are pectinated, are the EMPUSE of Illiger. The extremity of their thighs is furnished with a rounded membranous appendage resembling a ruffle. The margin of the abdomen is festooned in severa1(2). Those which have no horn on the head, and in which the antenn:E are simple in both sexes, alone compose the genus MANTIS of the same naturalist(3). (1) Excellent anatomical obserV'ations on these Insects are given by M. Marcel de Serres in the Mem. du Mus. d'Hist. Naturelle. (2) Stoll., M:mt., viii, 30; ix, 31·, 35; x, 40; xi, 44; xii, 47, 48, 50; xvi, 58, 59; xvii, 61; xx, 7 4; xxi, 79. The fig. 94, of pl. x:s:iv, is a. larva very similar to that of the ~lantis pauverata of Fabricius. . (3) Generis hujus speciei Americana: septentrionalis coitus spectaculum stn· gulare scepe e:thibet, femina mari& corpm in actu ikvoram. Rem ita esse amicu• meus verax probavit. .B.m. Ed. OH.THOPTEltA. 9 M. religiosa, L.; Rres., Insect. II, Gryll., 1, n. So called from the position to which it raises its anterior legs or arms, which resembles that of supplication. The Turks entertain a religious respect for this animal, and another species is held in still gt·eater veneration by the Hottentots. The M. t·eligiosa, very common in the southern parts of France and in Italy, is two inches long, of a light green colour, sometimes brown and immaculate, the inner side of the anterior coxre excepted, where we observe a yellow spot margined with black, a chat·acter which distinguishes it from an almost similar species from the Cape of Good Hope( 1 ). In the others, the anterior legs resemble the following ones. The eyes are simple, very indistinct, or null; and the first segment of the trunk is shorter, or at most as long as the following one. The interior divisions of the ligula are shorter than the others. The antennre are inserted before the eyes, and the head is almost ovoid, projects, and has thick lnatldibles and compressed palpi. These Insects have singular forms resembling twigs of trees or leaves. 'l'hey appear to feed exclusively on Yegetables, and like several Grylli are coloured like the plants on which they live. There is frequently a great difference between the sexes. They form the subgenus SPEOTRuM, Stoll, Which has been again divided into two others(2). (1) For the other species, see Stoll, genus Mantis, or the 1-Jlalking leaves, those excepted which are referable to the genus Pltyllium. See also the ?tfonog. Mant. of Lichtenst., Lin. Trans., VI; Palisot de Beauv., Insect. d'Afr. et d'Amer.; Herbst., Arch. Insect., and Chat'pent., Uor. Entom., p. 87-91, (2) MM. Lepeletier and Serville-Encyc. Method.-have added some new genera to those indicated by me in my Fam. Nat. du Regne Animal. In some the p.rothornx is much shorter than the mesothorax; the body and legs are Ion~ and lmear. The elytra, when there are any, are very short in l>oth sexes. Those which are apterous form two genera: llAOILLus, where the antenna:: are very short, granose, and subulate; and BACTEnu., where they are much longer than the head, and setaceous. The second division comprehends species furnished with wings and elytra at least in one of the sexes. Here we find no simple eyes: such are the genera Cu.noxEnus, where the legs are equally J•emote, nnd Cnuocn ..u u, where the four last are more approximated. There (I)nASMA) we obscn·e simple eyes. . In the others, the body is mor~ or less oval or oblong :md flattened, but not lmear. The legs are short or but slightly elongated and foliaceous. The length of the protl}orax equals at least half that of the mesothorax. The abdomen is rhomboidal and in the form of a spatula. There are no simple eyes, and the fe- VoL. IV.-B |
