316 INSECTS ABROAD. 



stages. When it has once settled down to eat the leaves on 

 which it is placed, the body speedily becomes bright green. 



" Among the leaves of the connnon myrtlb it cannot be dis- 

 tinguished by the colour of the body (the Jegb are, however), and 

 the habit of carrying itself adds to the deception. It bears its 

 tail generally curled up a little, ^ust about as much bent as the 

 myrtle leaf. As it bends its tail up, however, the arch would be 

 the wrong way unless the insect walked back downward, which, 

 in fact, is its constant habit — adhering to the under side of the 

 leaves. 



" This habit brings to light another beautiful contrivance for 

 still farther heightening its resemblance to a leaf. The upper 

 surface is opaque green, the under surface glossy glittering 

 green, just the reverse of the myrtle or guava leaf, so that by 

 reversing its position it brings the glossy side up and the dull 

 side down. This peculiarity is much more distinctly seen in 

 the young state and living insect, than in the dried specimen." 



I possess a few eggs of the Leaf Insect, which I have placed 

 in a hothouse, and which [ hope may be hatched in some two 

 months or six weeks after this account was written. Fortu- 

 nately there is plenty of myrtle in the neighbourhood, so that if 

 the young Leaf Insects should emerge from the egg, there will 

 be abundance of food for them. Specimens which have been 

 hatched in England have passed into their perfect state and 

 lived for some eighteen months, so that the sight of a living 

 Leaf Insect will not be so wonderful as it was a few years ago. 



