182 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



by one as perfectly functional as the original. The males and females 

 often differ entirely in appearance. 



The genus Bacillus is wingless, the elongate body and long legs 

 looking like a dry branched twig or piece of 

 stick. This genus feeds upon foliage, at 

 times doing very considerable defoliation in 

 Australia. The Insects are, however, very 

 sensitive to cold, and frost will always put an 

 end;to them there. Fig. 13 shows an Indian 

 species, Bacillus arte mis, Westw., from the 

 Naga Hills. In Fiji and the Friendly 

 Islands a species of Lopaphus eats the leaves 

 of the cocoanut, and at times causes such a 

 scarcity of food that it becomes necessary 

 to take measures to destroy them. 



The genus Phy Ilium occurs in the tropical 

 regions of the Old World. The upper wings 

 in these Insects and often their legs and 

 other parts are modified into leaf-like 

 structures. A species of Phyllium, Phyllium 

 scythe, is the Indian leaf-insect, whose broad 



Fig. 13. — A Stick-Insect. Bacillus 

 artemis. (Naga Hills, Assam.) 

 abdomen and upper wings are exactly 

 like a leaf, and the legs are flattened 

 out and also resemble portions of 

 leaves. It is fairly common in Eastern 

 Bengal and Assam. Natives of India 

 believe, and have volunteered the 

 information to me on several occasions 

 in Eastern Bengal, that the Insect is 

 only a leaf, which developed as such 

 originally and then took to xvalkmg. 

 Its colouring changes with that of the leaves of the tree or shrub upon 

 which it is found. Fig. 14 shows a female of this extremely curious Insect. 



FlG. 14. — A Leaf-Insect. 

 scythe. (Eastern Bengal) % 



Phyllivm 



