Grinning Evil Death

A voracious reader of Science Fiction in my younger days, I came upon a tome entitled, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction*, which made a fine addition to my library. I remember spending hours paging through it, following 'links' from one entry to another, looking for suggestions for further reading.

And I remember seeing the line, "Grinning Evil Death".

And this critter, a Chinese Mantid, is the perfect embodiment, as it awaits a hummingbird.

As far as I know, no hummingbirds were harmed. They seemed too smart to fall prey to the mantis.

As with the previous (same?) mantis on the other hummingbird feeder, this critter was relocated, far away from these feeders. It's not been back.

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* It seems I had the first edition, as it was full of illustrations, the second edition had none. And I believe it was one such illustration, of a magazine or book cover, that had the text, "Grinning Evil Death" with a picture of a monster of some type. Today, the third edition is available online, free to use, and full of illustrations. Alas, my search for "Grinning Evil Death" turned up no hits.