66 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



NOTES ON THE " SPECTRUM FEMORATUM." 



By Alex. S. Ritchie. 



The order of Orthoptera, to which this insect belongs, is remark- 

 able for the singularity of developement which characterizes 

 individuals of some of its families ; especially, those exotic species 

 as the Mantis rcligiosa from the south of France, the PhiUium 

 siccifolium, or walking-leaf; and in the Ectatosoma tiaratum 

 monstrosity reaches its acme ; the last named insect has dilated 

 spined legs, a swollen body, and appendages also spined. I had 

 the pleasure of seeing a specimen of this insect in a private collec- 

 tion in New York. The appearance of the Spectrum femoratum 

 is no less wonderful, having a long cylindrical body, resembling a 

 little broken twig and hence the popular name of Walking-stick. 

 The only entomologist who has treated on the habits of the Phas- 

 midse is Stoll ; Kirby quotes him when speaking of this family 

 of insects ; with a few exceptions the order of Orthoptera has been 

 less studied than any of the others. 



There are two localities near Montreal where I have found this 

 insect, namely, on the bass-wood trees on the north-east side of the 

 mountain and on Logan's farm ; to one who is not in the habit of 

 collecting insects it is very difficult to observe them, they are 

 generally slow and quiet in their habits when undisturbed, and 

 their resemblance in colour to the bark of the trees on which they 

 feed makes it difficult to notice them, except to the prying eye of 

 the entomologist ; in fact the general question asked me is — are 

 these insects found in Canada ? and the enquirer generally says, 

 'tis strange I have never seen any of them before. A friend of 

 mine told me that while he was sitting reading in the vicinity of 

 Niagara Falls, something fell on his book, which he said resembled 

 a dried twig, but he was more astonished when he perceived the 

 twig (as he called it) was possessed with life, and immediately 

 walked off. 



I am not aware of any other species than the Spectrum fem- 

 oratum being found in Canada ; they are apterous in both sexes, 

 the male (as is generally the case among insects) being the small- 

 est. The Diurna chronos of Van Dieman's Land, has wings ; 

 there is a specimen of this insect in the University Museum ; 

 another winged species is found in Virginia. 



