244 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



when oviposition is at an end, is the withering and spHtting of the abdomen 

 rtiuch the same as a bean pod will dry, curl and split open. 



Females in the late fall may be found in this unfortunate spent condition 

 with strength only left to drag themselves about awhile longer. Some speci- 

 mens in our collection exemplify this most extraordinary characteristic. 



Time of Hatching. Although abundant during 1918 it is worthy of note 

 that throughout the past season, 1919, these insects were exceedingly scarce. 

 Whether this was due to parasites, or weather conditions, or other controlling 

 factors I am unable to say. A close watch was kept throughout the summer for 

 any sign of their activities but I only succeeded in locating one nymph on June 

 14th, and two pairs of adults and one female on August 13. These last were 

 collected for egg records and I was able to keep them in the laboratory until 

 the beginning of October. 



In his Report of Forest Insects for 1878, I find that the late Doctor Riley, 

 of the United States Bureau of Entomology, refers to a communication received 

 from a Mr. Snow, of Yates Co., N. Y., in which the latter states that walking 

 sticks were unusually abundant every other year and that many of the eggs 

 were found to remain on the ground for two consecutive winters before hatching. 

 A further reference in this same report is made to the investigations of Messrs. 

 Bringham and Trouvelot. These gentlemen, writing in the Proceedings of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History, Volume XI, pages 88 to 89, observed that 

 the eggs of the walking stick only hatch after an interval of two years. 



Eggs laid in the summer of 1918 and held in storage for winter and spring 

 in a box of sand left exposed to the atmosphere failed to hatch last summer. Those 

 of 1919 were put into glass vials corked with loose cotton batting and left on the 

 laboratory table in a temperature averaging about 70 degrees. On January 28th, 

 1920, I examined several of these and found them well advanced in their em- 

 bryonic development. About 18th February, much to my astonishment, a 

 nymph made its appearance in one of the bottles, to be followed by several others 

 at irregular intervals. I had nothing at the time to feed the youngsters on except 

 rock fern {Pteris sp.) to which they did not take happily. Later I tried several 

 kinds of green foods, lettuce, tradescantia, geranium, etc., and dried oak leaves 

 soaked in water, but to no avail. The nymphs all died. 



Notes on Habits. The Phasmids have been popularly considered harmful 

 and poisonous. Such is not the case. In fact the very reverse is the truth. 

 They are quite harmless, inoffensive creatures, strict vegetarians and easily 

 managed in confinement. One large female, I had in the house for three months 

 and made quite a pet of her. I would often remove her from the cage and 

 allow her to walk over a pot of ferns on the table. She would meander up 

 and down on the green leaves, not attempting to drop to the table or trying 

 to get away. If I put water on the leaves she would immediately take some up 

 and blow it out from her mouth in the form of a bubble, then draw it in and 

 blow it out again, keeping this up for some time, as it were for my amusement. 

 Again I would place her on the table near an electric light. She would walk 

 towards it, hesitate, look around as if uncertain what next to do, then rear 

 herself, spreading out her long front legs to the light, as much as to say "Humph! 



