ABSTRACT
ONE OF GARY LARSON’S “FAR SIDE” CARTOONS FEATURES THREE female praying mantises in a traditionally genteel front parlor. The curtains are flowered, and the couch on which two of them sit is draped with lace antimacassars. The hostess insect is offering her guests a plate of snacks, and the caption gives the polite response of one of her guests in waving away the proffered food: “Oh, good heavens, no, Gladys —not for me…. I ate my young just an hour ago.”1
