CHAPTER V.
THE MANTIS .-- THE CHASE There is another creature of the Midi which is quite as curious and interesting as the Cigale, but much less famous, as it is voiceless.

If Providence had provided it with cymbals, which are a prime element of popularity, it would soon have eclipsed the renown of the celebrated singer, so strange is its shape, and so peculiar its manners.

It is called by the Provencals _lou Prego-Dieu_, the creature which prays to God.

Its official name is the Praying Mantis (_Mantis religiosa_, Lin.).
For once the language of science and the vocabulary of the peasant agree.

Both represent the Mantis as a priestess delivering oracles, or an ascetic in a mystic ecstasy.