These insects, _Mantis oratoria_, _religiosa_, etc., in consequence of their having, as Mouffet says, their fore-feet extended as if they were praying, are called in France, _Devin_, and _Prega-diou_ or _Prêche-dieu_; and with us, _Praying-insects_, _Soothsayers_, and _Diviners_. They are also often called from their singular shape _Camel-crickets_. The Mantis was observed by the Greeks in soothsaying;[253] and the Hindoos displayed the same reverential consideration of its movements and flight.[254] But, in modern times, the superstition respecting the sanctity of the Mantis begins in Southern Europe, and is found in almost every other quarter of the globe, at least wherever a characteristic species of the insect is found. In the southern provinces of France, where the Mantis is very abundant, both the characters of praying and pointing out the lost way, as above mentioned by Mouffet, are still ascribed to it by the peasantry, as is evidenced by the above mentioned names they know them by. And here, as wherever else this superstition obtains, it is considered a great crime to injure the Mantis, and as, at least, a very culpable neglect not to place it out of the way of any danger to which it seems exposed. The Turks and other Moslems have been much impressed by the actions of the common Mantis, the _religiosa_,[255] which greatly resemble some of their own attitudes of prayer. They readily recognize intelligence and pious intentions in its actions, and accordingly treat it with respect and attention, not indeed as in itself an object of reverence or superstition, but as a fellow-worshiper of God, whom they believe that all creatures praise, with more or less consciousness and intelligence.[256] But it is in Africa, and especially in Southern Africa, that the Mantis (here the _Mantis causta_)[257] receives its highest honors. The attention of the travelers and missionaries in that quarter was necessarily much drawn to the kind of religious veneration paid to an insect, and from their accounts, though very contradictory, some curious information may be collected.