THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 243 



vertical dark-brown stripes on his head and three broad bands of the same colour 

 on the middle femora. • Perhaps the thorax is worthy of more than usual at- 

 tention on account of its extraordinary length. The prothorax, or first division, 

 is very short and bears the first pair of legs which come off from the centre; 

 the second division, or mesothorax, is easily the longest segment in the body, 

 averaging ^^ inch; while the third, or metathorax, is a little shorter than the 

 .second, in the last two cases the legs being situated at the very extremity of 

 the joints, respectively. The final segment of the male terminates in a pair of 

 pincer-like claspers with which he seizes the female securely when mating. 



Cflpiilatino habits. Copulation occurs frequenti>" and is often of some 

 duration. In coitn the abdomen of the male is ranged at the side of the female 

 in a slanting position, the tip being hooked upward somewhat after the manner 

 in which a scorpion carries its tail, and brought forward to meet the genital 

 opening of the female which is situated on the eighth segment of the abdomen : 

 the claspers seize just above the opening and the union is made immediately. 

 The front and middle pairs of legs are usually employed to grasp the feriiale, 

 while the third pair is extended outwards as a support. The female holds to her 

 resting place chiefly by the second and third pairs of legs. Sometimes one of 

 the front legs will act as a support, say on the side of the cage, while the other 

 hangs out into space. The front pair, however, is often extended straight for- 

 ward and placed close together appearing as only one member, or spread out 

 widely apart and raised somewhat upwards in much the same attitude as that of 

 the pra\ing mantis, a near relative of the walking stick. Oviposition begins 

 at once. 



Oviposition. This occurs in late summer and autumn, from about the 

 middle of August to October. The female walking stick has no interest whatever 

 in her eggs after she has laid them. She scatters them indescriminately from 

 where\"er she happens to be, dropping them from the topmost branches of some 

 oak or from a low coppice to the earth — it is all the same to her, — she has finished 

 with them entirely and neither knows nor cares afterwards what becomes of them. 

 On the ground the majority get covered up in the long grasses or become hidden 

 among the dead leaves, mosses and general debris of the woods at autumn time 

 in this w^ay they receive protection from birds and other enemies until hatching 

 in June. 



Oviposition is an interesting performance. When ready to be deposited 

 the egg is slowly pushed down the oviducts to the exterior and as it emerges 

 the egg guides are forced downward to receive it. It glides on to these and is 

 held there as if in a hand, being supported on either side by two finger-like 

 processes. The black and shiny portion lies at the top of the guides and the 

 whitened area with its crease and scar at the bottom. The operculum end appears 

 last. The egg is held about 5 minutes on the guides and when dry the female 

 stirs by walking a step or two, or vigorously jerks her abdomen sideways, sending 

 the egg from her to the ground. From laboratory records this summer, the 

 two females I had confined in cages laid respectively 152 and 141 eggs, at an 

 average rate of three a day. Oviposition was carried on intermittently with 

 copulation, eggs being laid up to within a few hours of the death of the female. 

 Perhaps one of the strangest habits peculiar to some of the females at this time, 



