64 MIMICRY, AND OTHER PROTECTIl^E 



tropical Mantidae and Locustidsc are of the exact tint of 

 the leaves on which they habitually repose, and many 

 of them in addition have the veinings of their wings 

 modified so as exactly to imitate that of a leaf. This 

 is carried to the furthest possible extent in the wonder- 

 ful genus, Phyllium, the ec walking leaf," in which not 

 only are the wings perfect imitations of leaves in every 

 detail, but the thorax and legs. are flat, dilated, and 

 leaf-like ; so that when the living insect is resting 

 among the foliage on which it feeds, the closest ob- 

 servation is often unable to distinguish between the 

 animal and the vegetable. 



O 



The whole family of the Phasmidce, or spectres, to 

 which this insect belongs, is more or less imitative, and 

 a great number of the species are called " walking-stick 

 insects," from their singular resemblance to twigs and 

 branches. Some of these are a foot long and as thick 

 as one's finger, and their whole colouring, form, rugos- 

 ity, and the arrangement of the head, legs, and anten- 

 na?, are such as to render them absolutely identical in 

 appearance with dead sticks. They hang loosely about 

 shrubs in the forest, and have the extraordinary habit 

 of stretching out their legs unsymmetrically, so as to 

 render the deception more complete. One of these 

 creatures obtained by myself in Borneo (Ceroxylus 

 laceratus) was covered over with foliaceous excrescences 

 of a clear olive green colour, so as exactly to resemble a 

 stick grown over by a creeping moss or jungermannia. 

 The Dyak who brought it me assured me it was grown 

 over with moss although alive, and it was only after a 



