The Insect Folk Part 11

Their wings and legs are flattened to look like leaves, so that it is very difficult to find them among the foliage.

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Yes, May, they are also the color of the leaves they live among.

Here is a picture of one that will give some idea of these strange little people.

We have none of these leaf-like insects in our country, but we do have a near relative to the walking sticks, though it does not feed on leaves, I a.s.sure you.

How many of you are acquainted with his lords.h.i.+p, the praying mantis?

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Charlie says he has seen these fellows in Kansas, and Nellie says she has a cousin in the South who has told her about them.

Here is a picture of one; is it not a beauty!

Its wings are green and its body is brown, so that it can stealthily creep about among the foliage without being noticed.

When at rest it holds its front legs up as though it were raising its arms in an att.i.tude of devotion.

But not a thought of devotion lies in that cruel little head. There is only one idea there; and if any unwary insect were to come along, those devotional arms would be thrust out with incredible rapidity, and the unfortunate insect clasped tightly in them.

Then the mantis, hugging its prey in the strong trap-like clasp of its spiked legs, would coolly proceed to devour it alive, eating it as a boy would eat an apple.

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This praying mantis is called a "mule-killer" in the South, where the people think the brown liquor it spits out of its mouth, when disturbed, is fatal to mules.

The mantis is also called a devil-horse, a rear-horse, a camel-cricket, and many other names inspired by its outlandish appearance.

Some have even thought it looked wise, standing in that knowing att.i.tude with extended arms, and so it has been called prophet and soothsayer, as though it could foretell what is going to happen.

Undoubtedly it never foretells anything but the approaching death of some insect and possibly a coming change in the weather, for insects often know when the weather is going to change long before we do.

Although our mantes are brown or green, there are a great many species living in hot countries that are much more brightly attired; and when you find yourself on a visit to the tropics, you must look for the flower mantis.

It mimics in color the brilliant hues of the showy orchids in which it hides.

It does not seem to wear its gorgeous robes from a love for the beautiful, however, but rather that it may the better lie concealed in the heart of the gay flowers, to pounce upon unsuspecting insects that come there for refres.h.i.+ng draughts of honey.

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In some parts of Africa the mantis is wors.h.i.+pped by the natives, and in France these fellows are believed to point out the way to travellers by stretching out one leg when questioned.

Its strange att.i.tude, with uplifted arms, has won the mantis regard in all parts of the world, though the insects it clasps in these uplifted arms would not be likely to share the good opinion held of this hardy cannibal.

For it is a cannibal, and enjoys eating another mantis as much as anything else.

The mantes are terrible fighters, too, and if there is a meeting between two of them, there is very apt to be a battle in which one is vanquished and devoured by the other.

Our mantis lays its eggs, thirty or forty in number, on tree twigs, and they are embedded in a soft substance that soon becomes very tough and h.o.r.n.y. These strange egg-cases of the mantis are easily recognized because they look as though they were braided on top, as you can see in the picture.

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Yes, May, the tough covering is to protect the eggs from wet and from prying birds and hungry insects.

The young mantes are similar to their parents, only they have no wings.

But they hold up their spiny front legs and catch insects, and they grow and moult in the usual way.

While we have been talking about leaf-like insects and mule-killers our walking stick has gone off.

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Well, well, let him go, and good luck go with him.

I am glad you like the walking stick, children.

And now, May, let me tell you something.

This queer fellow is a very near relative of your friend, the c.o.c.kroach.

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THE GRa.s.sHOPPER TRIBES

Don't you often wonder where they come from? The swarms of gra.s.shoppers in the late summer?

Charlie says he walked across a field last night where he believes there were as many gra.s.shoppers as there were blades of gra.s.s.

Just think of it! and yet they do not seem to do any harm.

In some places, however, they do a great deal of harm.

They come flying in swarms that darken the sun, and they settle on the trees and the crops and eat up every green thing. There is nothing a Western farmer dreads so much as the pa.s.sing of the gra.s.shoppers.

Gra.s.shoppers are funny little fellows, and we like them--when there are not too many of them.

Summer would not seem quite like summer unless we heard the gra.s.shoppers shrilling.

There are a great many species of them, and we have placed them in two divisions,--The Shorthorned Gra.s.shoppers and The Longhorned Gra.s.shoppers.

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