find a congenial climate. Europe is more sparingly provided with them than the other great divisions of the earth, having only a few species, and most of these of small size. One of these, however, (M. Pagana, a species not exceeding eight or nine lines in length,) is found as far north as Francfort on the Maine; but its occurence, even in a more northern latitude than this on the Continent, does not authorise us to expect to meet with it in our insular situation. We, accordingly, find that there is no representative of this family in Britain. They first become common in what has been called, in Zoological geography, the Mediterranean region, (including the southern coasts of France, Spain, Italy, Turkey in Europe, Greece, the coasts of Asia Minor, Syria, and the northern shores of Africa, as far as 30°,) which is characterised by numerous entomological peculiarities; and even here, though individuals abound, there is no great diversity of species. Many large and conspicuous mantes inhabit the East Indies and other parts of Asia; numerous species also occur in America, and not a few are found at the Cape of Good Hope. Among the latter is one of the smallest of the family, M. Pusilla, which scarcely exceeds the dimensions of Raphidia Ophiopsis;[1] some of the largest kinds,
- ↑ The resemblance of some of the smaller mantes to this neuropterous insect is not inconsiderable, and even a closer analogy may be traced between them and the genus Mantispa, the latter possessing falciform fore-legs, the want of which in Raphidia, forms the most prominent distinction in such a comparison. All of these insects have the unusual property of being able to elevate the thorax almost to a right angle with the abdomen.
