"Mantis" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... twinkling, seized first one, then the other, by their attenuated middles, and held them up, all kicking and sprawling, between a thumb and finger of each hand. I knew the tricks and the manners of what I learned, many years later, that naturalists describe as the mantis religiosa, or praying-mantis, because in off-hours,—i.e. when they are not foraging or fighting—they will sit upon their hind quarters and "fold the stout anterior legs in a manner suggesting hands folded ...
— When Grandmamma Was New - The Story of a Virginia Childhood • Marion Harland |
