Glimpses of the animate world; or, Science and literature of natural history, for school and home . motion from its orthop-terous relatives, which travel by jumps, while the mantiscrawls so slowly that its progress can only be appreciatedby careful and prolonged watching. This trait is con-nected with another character by which the mantis differsfrom the foregoing groups, for, while they are vegetarians,this insect is carnivorous, and its insidious movements arepart of the policy by which it captures the various creat-ures upon which it feeds. 2. But the mantis is not only a carnivore which li
Glimpses of the animate world; or, Science and literature of natural history, for school and home . motion from its orthop-terous relatives, which travel by jumps, while the mantiscrawls so slowly that its progress can only be appreciatedby careful and prolonged watching. This trait is con-nected with another character by which the mantis differsfrom the foregoing groups, for, while they are vegetarians,this insect is carnivorous, and its insidious movements arepart of the policy by which it captures the various creat-ures upon which it feeds. 2. But the mantis is not only a carnivore which livesby killing and devouring other insects, it is also a creatureof the most quarrelsome disposition ; in fact, it is a fero-cious cannibal. If two of these insects be shut up together, L3S NATURAL HISTORY READER. they engage in a desperate combat; they deal each otherblows with their front legs, and do not leave off fightinguntil the stronger has succeeded in eating off the othershead. From their very birth the larvae attack each their contests, the male, being smaller than the female,. The Praying Manti. is often the victim. This pugnacity of the mantis is thesource of amusement to children in China. Two mantidsare shut up together in a bamboo cage, and the youngheathen view with delight the inevitable battle, and theresulting cannibal feast. QUEER LITTLE FOLKS. 139 3. And yet, while its inoffensive orthopterous brethrenhave got but little credit for their virtues, and arc gener-ally reviled as nuisances, this atrocious little savage hashad the fortune to acquire a peculiar reputation for wis-dom and saintliness. For thousands of years, and in allparts of the world, it has borne this character. The causehas been that it habitually assumes an attitude that appearsdevotional, and it was supposed to spend a large portion ofits life in prayer. Settled on the ground, it raises its headand thorax, clasps together the joints of its front legs (seecut), and raises them as if
Size: 1579px × 1582px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
