An epitome of the natural history of the insects of China: comprising figures and descriptions ... By E. Donovan, ...

This Mantis is described by Fabricius only. Stoll has given the figure of an insect not unlike it in his publication; and we have seen a specimen similar to it, which was found by Professor Pallas near the Caspian sea. It is allied to Mantis Gongyloides, a native of Africa and Asia, but bears a closer affinity to Mantis Pauperataa from Java, Molucca, and perhaps other islands in the Indian sea.

Fabricius enumerates fifty-one species of this genus in his last system; a considerable portion of these are from Asia: had he included the lately discovered kinds in America and New Holland, his genus would have been far more comprehensive. Few naturalists have had the opportunity of observing the manners of these creatures in distant countries; nor can we always rely on the information those few have given. Of the European species we can speak with more precision, because some indefatigable naturalists have at∣tended minutely to them; Roesel in particular has treated at considerable length on the manners of the Mantis Religiosa of Linnaeus.

Descriptions can only convey an imperfect idea of the extraordinary appearance of many creatures in∣cluded in the Mantis and Locusta genera. Among them are found species that bear a similitude to the usual forms of other insects; but, from these we almost imperceptibly descend to others, bearing as strong a simi∣litude to the vegetable part of creation; seeming as if Nature designed them to unite the appearance of a vegetable with the vital functions of an animal, to preserve them from the ravages of voracious creatures, or to connect that chain of progressive and universal being, which

" The great directing MIND of ALL ordains."

Many of these creatures assume so exactly the appearance of the leaves of different trees, that they fur∣nish

the entomologist with unerring specific distinctions; thus we have L. citrifolia, laurifolia, myrtifolia, oleifolia, graminifolia, and others, equally expressive of their resemblance in form, and colours, to the leaves of those respective plants. Travellers in countries that produce these creatures, have been struck with the phaenomenon, as it must appear, of animated vegetable substances; for the manners of the Mantis, in addition to its structure, are very likely to impose on the senses of the uninformed. They often remain on the trees for hours without motion, then suddenly spring into the air, and, when they settle, again appear lifeless. These are only stratagems to deceive the more cautious insects which it feeds upon; but some travellers who have observed it, have declared they saw the leaves of those trees become living crea∣tures, and take flight.

M. Merian informs us of a similar opinion among the Indians, who believed these insects grow like leaves on the trees, and when they were mature, loosened themselves and crawled, or flew; away. From the credulous, and unscientific, marvellous reports of such extraordinary creatures may be expected; but, to these we must add the authority of a naturalist, whose works are a valuable addition to our present knowledge of the history of nature: these are the works of Pisob.

"Those little animals," says that author, "change into a green and tender plant, which is of two hands breadth. The feet are fixed into the ground first; from these, when necessary humidity is attracted, roots grow out, and strike into the ground; thus they change by degrees, and in a short time become a perfect plant. Sometimes only the lower part takes the nature and form of a plant, while the upper part remains as before, living and moveable: after some time the animal is gradually converted into a plant. In this Nature seems to operate in a circle, by a continual retrograde motion."

Has the father of inventive romance outdone this account of Piso in his well-known extravagant poetical effusionsc? It may be imagined he has not; but before we dismiss his account with a hasty

censure, let us attend to the opinion of a few authors, nearly contemporary with himself: we find these collected in the criticisms of Roesel on that passage.

From these it appears that the works of Piso were much admired when first published, but we rely less implicitly on the information it contains, than his readers in the last century. Roesel treats his account with more than merited severity; not because he could contradict the relation of Piso, but, because he had never observed the same circumstance attend the Wandering Leaf, or Mantis Oratoria, in Europed. This reasoning is neither so conclusive, or liberal, as we should expect from Roesel; and more especially as he afterwards describes even the first symptom of the transformation as related by Piso. When he speaks of the death of the European species his words are, "As their dissolution approaches, their green eyes become brown, and they unavoidably lose their sight: they remain a long while on the same spot, till at last they fall quite exhausted and powerless, as if asleep." What is this but substantiating part of the evi∣dence of Piso, which he has laboured before to discredit? As to the change after they remained long on the ground, such as sending forth fibres, roots, and stems, from the body of the insect, it is only astonishing such a well-informed naturalist should have deemed it matter of surprise. Could he be ignorant of the many instances that occur, of animal substances producing plantse? or was lie not informed that the pupa which commonly sends forth a bee, a wasp, or cicada; has sometimes become the nidus of a plant, thrown up stems from the fore part of the head, and changed in every respect into a vegetable, though still re∣taining the shell and exterior appearance of the parent insect at the rootf? We own at first sight with Roesel that the account of Piso seems " an inattentive and confounded observation," but that an insect may strike root into the earth, and, from the co-operation of heat, and moisture, congenial to vegetation, produce a plant of the cryptogamia kind, cannot be disputed. We have seen species of clavaria both of the undivided and branched kinds, four times larger than the insect from which they sprang; and can we then deny that the insect mentioned by Piso might not produce a plant of a proportionate magnitude? In short, are we so well acquainted with the productions of Brasil as to contradict any of his assertions, concerning this transformation? Piso does not say of what kind this vegetable was; it must surely be of the fungi

kind: reasoning then from analogy, it might be an unknown species of clavaria with numerous and spreading branches; and, finally, the colour of his plant, on which authors lay much stress, might be green, though a colour not so predominant in that tribe of vegetables as some others.

The largest and most interesting of the Indian species of Mantis is found in the isle of Amboyna. Stoll contradicts the account of Renardg, who says these creatures are sometimes thirteen inches in length; but we have a specimen almost of that size. It is related by Renard, and others, that the larger kinds of Mantes go in vast troops, cross hills, rivers, and other obstacles that oppose their march, when they are in quest of food. If they subsisted entirely on vegetables, a troop of these voracious creatures would desolate the land in their excursions; but they prefer insects, and clear the earth of myriads that infest it: if these become scarce from their ravages, they fight and devour one another. When they attack the plants, they do great mischief. It is said of some Locusts and Mantes that the plants they bite wither, and appear as if scorched with fire: we have not heard of this pestilential property in any of the larger species of Mantes.

Of the smaller kinds, the Mantis Oratoria is the most widely diffused, being found in Africa and Asia as well as in all the warmer parts of Europe. These creatures are esteemed sacred by the vulgar in many countries, from their devout or supplicating posture. The Africans worship them; and their trivial names in many European languages imply a superstitious respect for themh.

England produces no species of this tribe. The entomologists in this country must consequently rely on the accounts of those, who have observed them in other parts of the world. We shall select a few remarks from Roesel's extensive description of Mantis Oratoria and Gongyloides, because, if we may pre∣sume from the analogy they bear in form to Mantis Flabellicornis, the history of one will clearly elucidate that of the other.

Roesel says, some of the Mantes are local in Germany; they are found chiefly in the vintages at Moedting in Moravia, where they are called Weinhandeli. The males die in October, the females soon afterk. The young brood are preserved in the egg state, in a kind of oblong bag, of a thick spongy substance; this bag is imbricated on the outside; it is fastened lengthwise to the branch of some plantl. As the eggs ripen they are protruded through the thick substance of the bag, and the larva, which are about half an inch in length, burst from them. Roesel, wishing to observe the gradual progress of these creatures, to the winged state, placed the bag containing the eggs in a large glass, which he closed, to prevent their escape. From the time they were first hatched they exhibited marks of a savage disposition. He put different sorts of plants into the glass, but they refused them, to prey on one another: this determined him to supply them with other insects to eat: he put ants into the glass to them, but they then betrayed as much cow∣ardice,

as they had barbarity before; for the instant the Mantes saw the ants they tried to escape in every direction. By this Roesel found the ants were the greatest persecutors of the Mantes. He next gave them some of the common musca (house flies), which they seized with eagerness in their fore claws, and tore in pieces: but, though these creatures seemed very fond of the flies, they continued to destroy one another through savage wantonness. Despairing at last, from their daily decrease, of rearing any to the winged state, he separated them into small parcels in different glasses; but, here, as before, the strongest of each community destroyed the rest.

Another time, he received several pair of Mantes in the winged state; profiting by his former obser∣vation, he put each pair [a male and female] into a separate glass, but they still shewed signs of an eternal enmity towards one another, which neither sex nor age could soften; for the instant they were in sight of each other, they threw up their heads, brandished their fore legs, and waited the attack: they did not remain long in this posture, for the boldest throwing open its wings, with the velocity of lightning, rushed at the other, and often tore it in pieces with the crockets and spines of the fore claws. Roesel compares the attack of these creatures to that of two hussars; for they dexterously guard and cut with the edge of the fore claws, as those soldiers do with their sabres, and sometimes at a stroke, one cleaves the other through, or severs its head from the thorax. After this the conqueror devours his vanquished antagonist.

We learn from Roesel also, the manner in which this creature takes its prey, in which respect we find it agrees with what is related of the extra European species. The patience of this Mantis is remarkable, and the posture to which superstition has attributed devotion, is no other, than the means it uses to catch it. When it has fixed its eyes on an insect, it very rarely loses sight of it, though it may cost some hours to take. If it sees the insect a little beyond its reach, over its head, it slowly erects its long thorax, by means of the moveable membranes that connect it to the body at the base; then, resting on the four posterior legs, it gradually raises the anterior pair also; if this brings it near enough to the insect, it throws open the last joint, or crocket part, and snaps it between the spines, that are set in rows on the second joint. If it is unsuccessful, it does not retract its arms, but holds them stretched out, and waits again till the insect is within its reach, when it springs up and seizes it. This is the uncommon posture before alluded to. Should the insect go far from the spot, it flies, or crawls after it, slowly on the ground like a cat, and when the insect stops, erects itself as before. They have a small black pupil or sight which moves in all directions within the parts we usually term the eyes, so that it can see its prey in any direction without having occasion to disturb it, by turning its head.

The most prevalent colour of this tribe of insects is fine green, but many of these fade or become brown after the insect dies: some are finely decorated with a variety of vivid hues; the most beautiful of these, that we have seen, are from the Moluccas.

Notes

• a

  Figured by Stoll under the name of La Mante Goutteuse Brune?
• b

  Gulielmi Pisonis, Amsterl. 1657.
• c

  Luna quater junctis implêrat cornibus orbem, &c. OVIDII Metamorph. —Sorores Phaëthontis in Arbores.

  Four times, revolving, the full moon return'd, So long the mother and the daughters mourn'd; When now the eldest, Phaëthusia, strove To rest her weary limbs, but could not move; Lampetia would have help'd her, but she found Herself withheld, and rooted to the ground: A third in wild affliction, as she grieves, Would rend her hair, but fills her hands with leaves: One sees her thighs transform'd, another views Her arms shot out, and branching into boughs. And now their legs, and breasts, and bodies, stood Crusted with bark, and hardening into wood; But still above were female heads display'd, And mouths, that call'd the mother to their aid. What could, alas! the weeping mother do? From this to that with eager haste she slew, And kiss'd her sprouting daughters as they grew: She tears the bark that to each body cleaves, And from the verdant fingers strips the leaves The blood came trickling where she tore away The leaves and bark: the maids were heard to say, "Forbear, mistaken parent, oh, forbear! A wounded daughter in each tree you tear: Farewel for ever." Here the bark increas'd, Clos'd on their faces, and their words suppress'd. ADDISON's Trans Phaeton's Sisters transformed into Trees.

  We quote this part of the poem at length; for as we peruse it, every successive line, bears a stronger similitude to the wonderful transformation of the Mantis as related by Piso; we might be almost tempted to condemn the description of the naturalist as a servile copy of Ovid's verses, if the similar transformation of other insects above noticed, had not occurred to the knowledge of every entomologist.
• d

  Among the annotations on the last edition of Roesel's Insecten Bellustigung we find one relating to this part of the works of Piso. "Der seel Her geheime Rath Trew, &c. Couns. Trew assures Mr. Roesel that Piso not only very often gave out the credible observations of others, as his own, but himself believed the most incredible relations, and pretended to be an eye witness thereof." We quote this in justice to the remarks of Roesel. Note in page 10, section Das Wandlende Blat.
• e

  Such as Mucor crustaceus, &c.
• f

  Specimens of these vegetated animals, are frequently brought from the West Indies; we have one of the cicada from the pupa, as well as others produced from wasps and bees in the perfect or winged slate. Mr. Drury has a beetle in the perfect slate, from every part of which, small stalks and sibies have sprouted forth; they are very different from the tufts of hair that are observed on a few coleopterous insects, such as the Buprestis sascicularis, of the Cape of Good Hope; they are certainly a vegetable production.
• g

  Poissons des Molucques par M. Renard, Amsterl. 1754.
• h

  Louva Dios by the Portuguese. Presque Dieu by the French.
• i

  Probably a provincial term for a dealer in wine.
• k

  Goetz, in his Beytrage, observes, that they live sometimes ten years.
• l

  To that of the vine in Mantis Oratoria.