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VI. On some iictc or rare Phasmidae /;/ the Collection of the Bi-itlsh Museum. By 

 W. r. KiKBY, F.L.S., F.E.S., Assistanl in the Zoological Department, British 

 Museum, South Kensington. 



(Plates XXXIX. & XL.) 



Read 5th December, 1895. 



IHE Phasmida' are in many respects a very interesting group of insects, but their 

 study has been comparatively neglected. They attain a larger size than any other 

 existing insects known, and many of the species are of brilliant colours ; but they take 

 up much space in a cabinet, and when preserved in spirit, as is too often the case, their 

 colours are discharged, and they become brittle and unsightly grey, yellow, or brown 

 objects. (I never lose an opportunity of protesting against the indiscriminate use of 

 spirit by collectors. It is a most convenient mode of collecting, but is adapted only 

 for hard shining insects like bugs, beetles, and cockroaches, w^hich have no delicate 

 colours to bleach, exposed wings to tear, or pubescence to mtit.) Again, the 

 Bhasmidce are sluggish insects, highly protective in their apjiearance, and generally 

 to be found resting motionless on their food-plants. They are therefore difficult to 

 see and collect, and, as they are little studied, they have no market value ; and 

 amateurs who send out collectors to obtain butterflies or beetles sometimes expressly 

 discourage their collectors from paying attention to groups of insects which do not 

 interest them. 



The Phasmidce are pre-eminently a tropical group, and probably attain their maximum 

 of size and l)eaiity in the Eastern Archipelago, from the Malay Islands to Australia 

 inckisive, though the number of species is perhaps greater in Trojiical America; and 

 in both these particulars they resemble butterflies. Foiu- small species only are found in 

 Europe south of the Alps, and of these only one, Fhasma gallicum, Charpentier, extends 

 as far north as South France, where it appears to be rare. In the United States likewise 

 only a few sjiecies occur, only one of which, Diapheroinera Sayi, Gray, crosses the 

 St. Lawrence into Canada, where it is found at Montreal. Several species are found in 

 China and Ja2)au, but their northern extension in Eastern Asia is not yet accurately 

 known. Southward, they extend to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, and at least as 

 far as Chili in South America. 



Many of the species are apterous in one or both sexes, while others have very large 

 wings. Sometimes they are perfectly smooth and rod-like ; but more frequently they have 

 spines on the head, legs, and body, sometimes simple, sometimes broad and triangular, 

 and often accompanied or replaced by large leaf-like expansions, especially in the species 

 of the Eastern genus PhylUum, IlHger, which present the exact appearance of green 

 veined leaves, and have always been known as " Walking Leaves." The Fhasmid^ in 

 general are known as "Walking Sticks," " Stick Insects," or " Spectres ;" and many 

 of the wingless species exhibit a very curious resemblance to dead twigs. Others are 



SECOND SERIES. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. VI. 60 



