448 MK. W. F. KIRHY ON NEW OR EARE 



green, with jointed bodies (r. //. the genus HennarcJms, Stal), and present an exact 

 resemblance to slioots of l)anilioo, being seven or eight inches long, and as thick as a 

 finger. Smaller species, belonging to the genns Grcnffea, Bninner, are sometimes 

 extremely injurious to the cocoanut-trees in the South Sea Islands ; so much so that 

 the chiefs sometimes issue orders for their destruction bj'^ chopping them to pieces. 

 Many Phasmlda; exude a liquid from the l)ody when alarmed ; but this cocoanut feeder 

 is said to have the jiower of squirting a fluid, sufficiently acrid to cause blindness if it 

 touches the eyes, to a distance of four feet. Otherwise the Phasmidce appear to be 

 generally harmless, except sometimes, to vegetation ; and it is probably only a few 

 species which cause much mischief in this respect. 



The largest species known belongs to the genus Pharnacia, Stal. It is from Borneo, 

 and the name of Pharnacia serratipes. Gray, has been provisionally attached to it in the 

 public Insect Room at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. Accurate 

 measurements, taken by Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, will be found in the present paper ; 

 but in this place I need only say that it measures nearly 13 inches from th.e front of 

 the head to the extremity of the abdomen. Another specimen, from a doubtful locality, 

 measures only 10^ inches in total length ; but without more specimens it is impossible 

 to ascertain positively whether they belong to the same species or not, for except size, 

 and a possible difference in the comparative size of the spines (a character not easily 

 estimated when comparing a dried and a spirit specimen), I have not been able to detect 

 any characters by which to separate them. Moreover, in many Phasmidce, the males 

 differ very much from the females, being much smaller, slenderer, and with the spines, 

 &c., much less developed ; and it is therefore unsafe to attempt to pair the sexes, unless 

 they are received from the same locality and in the same collection. The type of 

 Pharnacia serratipes. Gray, is a slender winged insect, only <o^ inches in length ; and no 

 one has yet determined whether the two large apterous females to Avhich I have referred 

 belong to P. serratipes or to some allied species, of which the males are as yet undis- 

 covered. As a rule, the female insects are much commoner in collections than the males. 



Many Phasmidce were described by the older writers, and a considerable umnber 

 were figured by Stoll in 1813, in his ' Representation des Spectres ou Phasmes.' 



In 1833 George Robert Gray published the first part of a projected work on the 

 Entomology of Australia, containing 8 plates illustrating some of the magniiicent species 

 of that country ; and though this work was never continued, Gray jmblished a ' Synopsis 

 of the Species of Insects belonging to the Family of Phasmidce ' in 1835, describing a 

 considerable number of new genera and species. 



In 1839 Burnieister gave a critical resume of the Pkasmidce in the second volume 

 of his 'Handbuch der Entomologie,' as also did De Haan of the Eastern species, in 

 1842, in his synopsis of Orthoptera in Temminck's splendidly illustrated ' Verhandelingen.' 



In 1859 the British Museum issued one of its most important entomological 

 publications, — Westwood's quarto Catalogue of Pkasmidce, with 40 uncoloured plates. 



Among the more important contributions to the knowledge of this group of insects 

 which have appeared since that date are Bates's " Descriptions of 52 new Species of 

 Pkasmidce," Trans. Liun. Soc. vol. xxv. (1805), and De Saussure's '• Melanges Orthoptero- 



