pencil of a Callot. (Jacques Callot (1592-1635), the French engraver and
painter, famous for the grotesque nature of his subjects.--Translator's
Note.) There is nothing to beat it in the extravagant medley of figures in
his "Temptation of Saint Anthony." Its flat abdomen, scalloped at the
edges, rises into a twisted crook; its peaked head carries on the top two
large, divergent, tusk-shaped horns; its sharp, pointed face, which can
turn and look to either side, would fit the wily purpose of some
Mephistopheles; its long legs have cleaver-like appendages at the joints,
similar to the arm-pieces which the knights of old used to bear upon their
elbows. Perched high upon the shanks of its four hind-legs, with its
abdomen curled, its thorax raised erect, its front-legs, the traps and
implements of warfare, folded against its chest, it sways limply from side
to side, on the tip of the bough.

Any one seeing it for the first time in its grotesque pose will give a
start of surprise. The Tachytes knows no such alarm. If she catches sight
of it, she seizes it by the neck and stabs it. It will be a treat for her
children. How does she manage to recognize in this spectre the near
relation of the Praying Mantis? When frequent hunting-expeditions have
familiarized her with the last-named and suddenly, in the midst of the
chase, she encounters the Devilkin, how does she become aware that this
strange find makes yet another excellent addition to her larder? This
question, I fear, will never receive an adequate reply. Other huntresses
have already set us the problem; others will set it to us again. I shall
return to it, not to solve it, but to show even more plainly how obscure
and profound it is. But we will first complete the story of the Mantis-
killing Tachytes.

The colony which forms the subject of my investigations is established in a
mound of fine sand which I myself cut into, a couple of years ago, in order