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Updated: May 20, 2025
Thus passes the late autumn: the Empusae, more and more temperate from day to day, hang motionless from the wire gauze. Their natural abstinence is my best ally, for Flies grow scarce; and a time comes when I should be hard put to it to keep the menageries supplied with provisions. During the three winter months, nothing stirs.
A Cabbage Butterfly far exceeds the capacity of the Empusa's stomach. The Ants will benefit by what is left. There is one other matter to be mentioned, before observing the metamorphosis. The position adopted by the young Empusae in the wire-gauze cage is invariably the same from start to finish.
The predominant game is the Praying Mantis, green; next comes the Grey Mantis, ash-coloured. A few Empusae make up the total. The specimens vary in dimensions within fairly elastic limits: I measure some which are a third to a half inch long, averaging two-thirds to one inch long, and some which are two-fifths, averaging three quarters.
It is a rule for them to spend the cold season in a state of complete abstinence. My cages tell me what must happen outside, during the winter. Ensconced in the crannies of the rockwork, in the sunniest places, the young Empusae wait, in a state of torpor, for the return of the hot weather.
Should a thoughtless Locust meekly approach one of the Empusae, suspended by her four hind-legs to the trellised dome, the intruder meets with a bad reception. The pointed mitre is lowered; and an angry thrust sends him rolling. We have it: the wizard's cap is a defensive weapon, a protective crest. The Ram charges with his forehead, the Empusa butts with her mitre. But this does not mean dinner.
The maimed ones, still full of life, clamber up the trellis-work and are forthwith grabbed by the Empusae, who, in no way frightened by their protests, crunch them up. The dish is to their taste and, moreover, plentiful, so much so that there are always some despised remnants.
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