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Show Praying Mantis Is Oddest Friend of Man Its Unending Hunger Is Farmer's Greatest Ally The Praying Mantis (see sketch below), is one of the oddest of all friends of man. Three inches or more in length, green or brown, the mantis suggests sug-gests some prehistoric monster in miniature. In perfect silence, it awaits the coming of each new victim, vic-tim, its spined forelegs folded meekly in an attitude of prayer. Once the victim is within reach, these forelegs shoot out, the blades snap shut, and the prey is held as helpless as though it were caught in a toothed steel trap. Thus the insect that will kill many of the pests that harm American crops is described in the July issue of Coronet magazine. The mantis is driven by an almost-unending hunger for living victims. So valuable is the insatiable insatia-ble hunger of the mantis for caterpillars, cater-pillars, beetles and moths, that in many parts of the country people place their egg-cases in their gardens. gar-dens. It will eat bumblebees, crickets, houseflies, grasshoppers, spiny caterpillars, cat-erpillars, hornets, cabbage butterflies, butter-flies, Japanese beetles and even Black Widow spiders. The mantis is entirely harmless to man. Its appetite is probably the farmer's greatest ally in his battle against insects and bugs. Special care should be taken not to destroy them. |