Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Entomology.djvu/238

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SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT.

upwards of four inches in length, occur in South America.

The eggs of the Mantidæ, which are very numerous, are enveloped when first laid in a soft substance, which, by exposure to the air, soon acquires the consistency of parchment. They are disposed, as in the family last described, in two rows; are of an elongated form and yellow colour. The packet is attached by an adhesive gum to the stalk of a plant.

As a generic designation, the term Mantis is now limited to such members of the family as have the antennæ simple, head without an angular projection in front, eyes hemispherical, anterior legs long and falciform, the others slender and without spines. Many of them are of considerable size, and with a very few exceptions, extra-European.


MANTIS (HARPAX) OCELLARIA.

Plate VII. Fig. 3.

Drury's Exotic Insects. Pl. 43. fig. 1.

Head and thorax yellowish brown, inclining to green; tegmina transparent at the tips, the remainder green, the centre of each marked with a yellow eye-like spot, encircled with black; wings transparent, the costa tinged with green; forelegs yellowish brown; the middle and hinder thighs with a small expansion at the extremity, and two spurs on the tibiæ.

This handsome species inhabits the Coasts of Africa.