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Motionless in its weird position, the Mantis surveys the acridian, its gaze fixed upon it, its head turning gently as on a pivot as the other changes place. The object of this mimicry seems evident; the Mantis wishes to terrorise its powerful prey, to paralyse it with fright; for if not demoralised by fear the quarry might prove too dangerous. Does it really terrify its prey?
Moreover, the question of health may well be involved. There is nothing to tell us that the Spider, that treat for the Pompilus, is not poison, or at least unwholesome food, to the Bembex, the lover of Gad-flies; that the Ammophila's succulent caterpillar is not repugnant to the stomach of the Sphex fed upon the dry Acridian.
This fall is interesting, and reminds me of the persistence with which the empty husk of the Cigale braves the winds of winter, without falling from its supporting twig. The transfiguration of the locust takes place very much as does that of the Cigale. How is it then that the acridian trusts to a hold so easily broken?
"Bramble-bees and Others" by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapters 12 to 14. Any adult Acridian approaching an inch in length suits the White-banded Sphex. The various tidae of the neighbourhood are admitted to the larder of Stizus ruficornis and of the Mantis-hunting Tachytes on the sole condition of being young and tender. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 14.
I can see only one: this quarry, which is not hers, perhaps inspires her with fear, as any unknown thing might do; the ferocious Mantis does not alarm her, but the peaceable Grasshopper terrifies her. And then, if she were to overcome her apprehensions, she does not know how to master the Acridian and, above all, how to operate upon him.
Thus the Tarsal Tachytes, an appreciative epicure of tender flesh, would not consent to replace her pinch of young Acridian-grubs with the one big Locust that forms the food of Panzer's Tachytes; and the latter, in her turn, would never exchange her adult Acridian for the other's menu of small fry.
I offer the Tachytes, deprived of her Mantis, a small Grasshopper, whose hind-legs I amputate to prevent his leaping. The disabled Acridian jogs along the sand. The Wasp flies round him for a moment, casts a contemptuous glance upon the cripple and withdraws without attempting action.
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