for enabling them to secure their victims. One of the distinguishing marks of the present family is the great length and thickness of the forelegs, which, owing to the length of the thorax, usually appear remote from the other pairs, and placed near the head. They thus admit of being extended forwards a considerable way from the body, and their structure admirably adapts them for seizing small objects. The thigh, which is the thickest portion, is grooved on its inner edge, and beset with a double row of strong spines; the tibia is so formed as to close upon it as the blade of a pocket-knife does upon its handle, and being likewise spinous on its interior edge, effectually secures any object that may be within, in a manner somewhat similar to what is practised by that carnivorous vegetable the Dionea muscipula. The efficiency of this implement is shewn not only in seizing small insects, which become an easy prey, but in the combats which the Mantidæ carry on with each other, for a dexterous application of it decapitates an opponent as expeditiously as could be done by a guillotine. In a leg so constructed, the tarsus becomes a very subordinate appendage, being short and weak, and apparently unequal to support the body, resembling that part in certain Coleopterous genera (such as Phanæus, Geotrupes, &c.) where it shews a tendency to become obsolete, as its functions are performed by the extremity of the tibiæ. These raptorial legs are often equal to the entire length of the body, and in some instances even surpass these dimensions.
