Identifier: polartropicalwor00hartuoft (find matches)
Title: The polar and tropical worlds : a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe
Year: 1874 (1870s)
Authors: Hartwig, G. (Georg), 1813-1880 Guernsey, Alfred Hudson, 1824-1902
Subjects: Arctic peoples Natural history Antarctica Arctic regions Tropics
Publisher: Guelph, Ont. : J.W. Lyon
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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e by where he was standing;but it disappeared as if by magic. At last he detected it; and having secured it, wasable to perceive how it was able to hide itself, when in plain view. The upper endof the wings terminates in a fine point, while the lower wings are lengthened out intoa .short thick tail; between these points runs a dark line like the midrib of a leaf, THE LEAF BUTTERFLY—THE SOOTHSAYER. 583 •with marks on each side resembling leaf-veins. When the wings are closely pressedtogether, the whole outline is exactly like that of a half-shrivelled leaf, which it thenresembles in color. The tail of the hind wings forms a perfect stalk, and rests uponthe twig, while the insect is supported by the middle pair of legs, which are hardly tobe distinguished from the twigs around. The head is drawn back between the wings,at whose base is a notch to let it in. Knowing all this, one must look closely at thepicture which he gives in order to distinguish the alighted butterfly from a leaf.
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THE LEAF BUTTERFLY. Another singular insect is the Mantis, or Soothsayer, notable for its apparentlyfeeble structure and voracious appetite. It is of slow movement, yet flies constitute agreat part of its food. It steals cautiously upon its prey, and, when near enough,flings out its long fore-legs and grasps its prey. These legs are curiously constructed;the tibia can be shut upon the sharp edge of the thigh, like a pair of shears, withwhich it can cut any slender substance, and even give a decidedly unpleasant nip uponthe finger of the naturalist who incautiously seizes it. The Mantis, by the attitude it assumes when lurking for its prey or advancing uponit—which is done by the support of the four posterior legs only, whilst the head and The insect tribes hold a kind of universal empire over the earth and its inhabit-ants, for nothing that possesses, or has possessed, life is secure from their attacks.To secure himself from their attacks, man must wage a perpetual warfare, and main

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