F76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxvi. 



of <'opulation. The female drops the eg'gs at random in the woods, 

 where they lie till the following spring before hatching. P^ggs depos- 

 ited on November and kept indoors gave forth the young during- 

 the last week of the following March. Some eggs are slow in giving 

 forth the nymphs and so the insect may be found in various stages of 

 development all through the season. Some of the eggs lie through 

 even the second winter before hatching. The young are said to pass 

 through but two stages in the course of growth, which averages less 

 than two months. The newly hatched nymphs are of a uniform pale 

 yellowish-green color and measure about 5 mm. ii) length, ones reared 

 at the insectar\" of the Division of Entomology giving the following 

 measurements: Length of body, 8 mm., hind femora, 3.5 mm. The 

 young are said to live on low herbage and drop to the ground when 

 disturbed. There is but one generation annually. 



This is the onlj^ one of our phasmids that is of economic impor- 

 tance. It has been recorded as occurring in injurious luimbers on for- 

 est trees. In such cases burning over the ground in winter to kill the 

 eggs is recommended. 



DIAPHEROMERA VELIEI Walsh. 



Plate LYIII. fig. 3. 



Dinpheromera velii Walsh, Proc. Ent. Soc. Philad., Ill, 1864, pp. 409-10.^ 

 ScuDDER, Psyche, IX, 1901, p. 189. 



This species may be defined as follows: 



Of the same size and form as D. feinorata., and also agreeing with it 

 in being dimorphic in color, both brown and green forms occurring. 

 It differs from that species in the following particulars: Head slightly 

 more elongate; middle femora of male not usually banded with gray; 

 seventh abdominal segment of the male no longer than the ninth, while 

 mfemorota it is one-fourth longer. Male cerci with a sharp spine or 

 tooth at the base on the inner side instead of a l)lunt tubercle; female 

 cerci nearl}' or quite as long as the apical segment of the abdomen 

 instead of less than half as long, and they are usuallv more slender 

 than in feiiKm.ita. In general, the color of the dark form of veliei 

 seems to be somewhat lightei; than that of the corresponding form of 

 ^femorata,, but in this respect both species are variable. 



This species is more southern in its distribution than feviordta. It 

 occurs east of the Rock}' Mountains from Nebraska to ^Maryland, 

 south to Georgia and Texas. It occurs also in Mexico. It was 

 described from Nebraska, and Scudder reports it from a num})er of 

 States within the region specilied above. I have seen specimens fi'om 

 Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado. Some of the 

 females from Oklsdioma have the spine beneath the posterior and inter- 

 mediate femoni entirely aborted, causing them to be separable from 



