242 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



could be located clinging to the twigs and branches, their presence not always 

 being detected at first sight on account of the odd similarity of their long thin 

 bodies and legs to the twigs and branches they were on, a protective resemblance 

 of quite a remarkable character. When disturbed they would often drop sudden- 

 ly to earth or nervously jerk themselves this way and that; if irritated they 

 exhibited a queer habit of swaying or rolling from side to sidle, cradle-fashion. 

 Both sexes were taken, but females proved more abundant. Several pairs hi 

 copula were observed on oak later in the season during August and September. 



Egg. This exceedingly odd and interesting object may readily be mistaken 

 for a seed of some kind. In fact one may favourably compare it with that of 

 hemp, so closely does it resemble this product of the vegetable kingdom both in 

 size and shape. It is for the most part black in colour, and highly polished, 

 with a dull whitish keel, shading to olive tints; oval in shape, flattened slightly 

 on the sides and quite hard. At one end is the operculum or capsule, a circular 

 cover which is dark amber in colour, deeply wrinkled and surrounded with a 

 crown of spines, below which a dark oval ring is arranged somewhat obliquely. 

 An oblong scar appears on the whitened area, which is very much like the hilum 

 of a bean. 



Nymph. The young nymph is bright green in colour, slow-moving and 

 very awkward. When first hatched the body is about 5/16 of an inch long, 

 and is of a yellow-green cast; legs and antennae are prominently long and eyes 

 noticeably dark brown. It often happens that some difficulty is experienced 

 in emerging from the egg, and it is not an uncommon sight to find the egg shell 

 attached to one of the hind tarsi being dragged about by the young stick. This 

 may be due to a lack of moisture, for if a drop of water is placed on the shell 

 the creature soon extricates itself. The swaying or rocking habit is very marked 

 in the youngest of nymphs, even those of one day old. As the adult stages are 

 approached, the green tints become tinged with yellow, these again take on a 

 darkey- shading and tone down to grey-greens, dull-reds, mottled-browns, and 

 dark-greys. 



Adults. Generally speaking these insects are long, slim, very narrow, and 

 stick-like in shape. The female is much longer than the male and measures on 

 an average from 3'/4 inches to 3'/2 inches in length, and not more than 3/16 

 inch broad at the widest part of the abdomen. The head is short and truncate, 

 fits closely to the thorax and at first sight appears to be part of same. The 

 antennae are situated well in front of the eyes and stand upon strong pedestals 

 which are placed widely apart on the head ; they are very fine, thread-like organs, 

 of many segments and very long, often exceeding 2 inches; the eyes are large, 

 bulging and strongly rounded ; the palpi long, prominent, and conspicuously 

 used while feeding. Not only does the female differ from her mate in length, but 

 her front legs are more dilated, the ridges and grooves on these being more dis- 

 tinctly and deeply marked; the peculiar curve at the base of the front femora 

 which permits the legs to fit very closely to the head is more pronounced than 

 in the male; the middle femora are not swollen as is certainly the case in the male, 

 and the spurs carried on the femora of the second and third pairs of legs are 

 small, insignificant points when compared with those of the male's which are 

 very prominent, sharp and thorn-like, situated near the knee joint. In the 

 female the head and legs are without markings, whereas the male has three 



