. British Central Africa; an attempt to give some account of a portion of the territories under British influence north of the Zambezi. Natural history. ZOOLOGY 373 legs folded up alongside its immensely elongated pro-thorax, the body gently swaying to and fro. When an insect approaches and is within reach, the mantis darts its fore limbs forwards and catches the creature between tibia and femur. It then advances the prey to the mandibles of its mouth and tears it away again, thus biting off portions. It is a nasty insect to lay hold of as it can give one's fingers a very sharp prick with the
. British Central Africa; an attempt to give some account of a portion of the territories under British influence north of the Zambezi. Natural history. ZOOLOGY 373 legs folded up alongside its immensely elongated pro-thorax, the body gently swaying to and fro. When an insect approaches and is within reach, the mantis darts its fore limbs forwards and catches the creature between tibia and femur. It then advances the prey to the mandibles of its mouth and tears it away again, thus biting off portions. It is a nasty insect to lay hold of as it can give one's fingers a very sharp prick with the teeth of its huge fore limbs. No one ordinarily would have a desire to meddle with the mantis, but the mantis unfortunately will not leave you alone at night. Attracted by the light of your lamp it flies in circles around it and you, generally ending by settling on your hair or hand, looking at you with its huge green eyes and ready at any offensive movement on your part to tweak your ear or your finger. Fortunately the. A LOCUSTID INSECT (Probably Dolichofiodd) ferocity of the mantis (though it is said by some naturalists to be able to kill small birds) is mainly directed against its own hateful class, and it kills enormous numbers of insects, man)- more than it can eat; beinu in this respect the of the insect race, leopard killing for love of slaughter. The stick-insects [Phas- midee) are very abundant in the long grass, and some of them imitate the yellow stems and grey leaflets of the sun-dried herbage with the most marvellous accuracy. Others simulate small dead branches with off-shoots and thorns, the main branch being mottled with spots like lichen. This tribe produces the largest insects of the present clay, some of the Phasmidce attaining to a length of eighteen inches. It is not uncommon to meet with them in British Central Africa a foot long. I give an illustration (page 372) of one obtained at Zomba. This is probably a species of Palophus, and measured nine inches i
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
