THE animals all have vocations of some kind. From the largest elephant to the smallest insect they have a certain work to perform that is of more or less importance in making all life move along harmoniously. And it is sometimes curious to see how exactly our trades are imitated by them. We see the carpenter-bee working in wood, also numerous beetles and ants and the sexton-beetles burying the dead of insects; the snails and ants are miners, the Pholas even carrying a miner's lamp; the birds build wonderful structures, and can fitly claim to be architects. And so we might go on through a long list of workers in metal, wood, or

clay; while others are kings, queens, laborers, slaves, soldiers, navigators, and what not.

But it is with some curious animal hunters, or trappers, that we wish just now to become better acquainted. In human endeavors to capture game, a variety of traps and devices are brought into use. Sometimes great nets are used to ensnare birds, and pitfalls to lure larger game, while the sportsman, hidden by a mimic forest, floats down unsuspected upon the wild water-birds. But of all these devices, and many more, we find exact counterparts among the lower animals; either we imitate them or they us, who shall say? And

now for the comparison. We have spoken of the hunter who surrounds himself by bushes,- well, there is an insect that imitates the twigs and branches themselves, and so creeps upon its game. Various insects of the genus Mantis are found throughout the world, and are very common in our Middle States, specimens often being seen on the fences standing perfectly still, with their great claws lifted high in air, exactly as if they were praying; and from this peculiarity they are called the "Praying Mantis." Similar names are given to this insect in France and Italy. The Hottentots worship the mantis as a divinity; and if one alights upon a person, he or she is looked upon ever after as a saint. Notwithstanding all this, the mantis is a cowardly, treacherous hunter. It resembles the twigs and boughs upon which it crawls, both in color and shape; and when a smaller insect approaches, it creeps along with a stealthy, cat-like motion and suddenly seizes the victim with its knife-like claws. In South America they attain a large size, and, according to Burmeister, the Mantis of the Argentine Republic even captures small birds if they happen to dart too near it.

Even among themselves these insects are vicious and cannibalistic, fighting upon the slightest provocation. The Chinese even keep them in bamboo cages, and exhibit them as prize-fighters. In their combats their movements are those of a swordsman; blows are given with their sword-like fore legs, and a vigorous battle kept up until one succumbs, when the victor devours his vanquished enemy then and there.

In Africa, deep pits are often made by human hunters to capture game, and among the insects

ANT-LION CAPTURING AN ANT.

we find the ant-lion (Myrmeleon) adopting a similar ruse. Its eggs are laid in sandy places, and when the young ant-lions appear they have no wings, and are flat little creatures with immense

A DRAGON-FLY CAPTURING A FISH.

jaws. As soon as born, the curious larvæ proceed to work. Each young ant-lion selects a soft place in the sand, and by turning itself around and around, it traces an exterior circle; and by continuing the spiral motion, and gradually retreating to the center, it marks out and forms a cavity having spirals like those of a snail shell. Next, these are smoothed down by an ingenious process. If a pebble rolls in, or is found in the slope, the ant-lion places it upon its head, and with a sudden jerk sends it far out of the pit. But sometimes pebbles are found that are too heavy to be thrown out in this way, and then another plan is adopted. The pebble is carefully rolled upon the flat back of the ant-lion, which starts up the incline with its tail high in air, so that the load is kept upon a level, and finally deposited upon the outside. If the pebble is round, many attempts have to be made; and an ant-lion has been seen to make seven or eight trials to carry out a pebble, each time carefully following up the track made by the pebble in rolling down, only finally, as if mortified by constant failure, giving it up and seeking another spot. The pit completed is seen to be a circular or conical depression, at the bottom