4′. Anterior portion of wing, when present, rounded, with no apical field. Tribe 10. PERISPHAERIIDES. (Fig. 130, _Gromphadorhina portentosa_; Fig. 131, _Pseudoglomeris fornicata_.) 3′. Subgenital lamina of males extremely small, without styles. No pad between claws. Tribe 11. PANESTHIIDES. To the above tribes another one—GEOSCAPHEUSIDES—has been recently added by Tepper,[171] for an extraordinary Australian Insect of fossorial habits, with front legs formed somewhat like those of _Gryllotalpa_. {242}CHAPTER X ORTHOPTERA _CONTINUED_—MANTIDAE—SOOTHSAYERS FAM. IV. MANTIDAE—SOOTHSAYERS OR PRAYING INSECTS. _Orthoptera with exserted but deflexed head and elongate prothorax, the first pair of legs largely developed, raptorial, the coxae elongate, free, femora and tibiae armed with spines: second and third pair of legs simple and similar; the tarsi five-jointed, without a pad (arolium) between the claws; a pair of jointed cerci near the extremity of the body._ The Mantidae are an extensive family of Orthoptera, showing extreme variety in the shapes and outlines of the body, and characterised by the very remarkable front legs; the function of these legs being to seize and hold their prey, which consists of living Insects, Mantidae being carnivorous and highly voracious. The labium is deeply divided, each half exhibiting a very near approach to the structure of a maxilla; there is a large membranous lingua reposing on the inner face of the lower lip. The head is quite free from the thorax, its front part being deflexed, and even somewhat inflexed, so that the mouth is directed downwards and somewhat backwards: it is very mobile, being connected to the thorax by a comparatively slender neck, which is, however, concealed by the pronotum. There are two large, prominent eyes, the antennae are frequently very slender, but they sometimes differ according to sex, and in some genera are pectinate in the male; just above and between their insertion are three ocelli placed in a triangle, two above, one below; between the antennae and the clypeus there is an interval called the scutellar space. In some forms of Mantidae the head assumes most extraordinary shapes; the eyes may become {243}elongate and horn-like; there may be a projection between them bearing the ocelli, and attaining occasionally a great length; the scutellar space also may have a remarkable development, the whole thus forming a peculiar ornamental structure, as in Fig. 136. [Illustration: FIG. 135.—_Deroplatys sarawaca_, female. Borneo. (After Westwood.)]