Meet My Protégé

Last autumn I found a praying mantis ootheca (egg case) that was unusually small and badly misshapen, as though it had been twisted and slightly flattened. It was attached to a leaf that was about to fall. I took it to the veranda, where I kept it through the winter and most of spring. Then I put it in a protected place in the garden. I checked on it daily for several weeks and one day I found that two of the narrow cells had hatched. I found only one of the nymphs, but it has stayed close to where it hatched. Here it is, looking rather cute, don’t you think?