ORTHOPTEEA OF INDIANA. 203 



Family PHASMID^.. 



To this family of non-saltatorial Orthoptera belong the insects 

 commonly known as "walking-sticks." The body is long and exceed- 

 ingly slender; the head nearly horizontal, not covered by the prono- 

 tum and. usually quadrate or four sided; the antennre long and 

 rather coarse; the eyes small; the ocelli often wanting. The prono- 

 tum is very short. The tegmina and wings are wanting in our species, 

 though present and rudimentary in some tropical forms. The legs 

 are long, slender and of equal size, the fore femora being often bowed 

 and the fore tarsi terminating, like the others, in a pair of claws. 



Our species of Fhasmidce are remarkable for their resemblance to 

 twigs of different plants; while some of the tropical species are so 

 modified as to resemble leaves; frequently bearing so close a re- 

 semblance to the foliage as to deceive a keen observer. Their move- 

 ments are, in general, very slow, though the males can run with some 

 rapidity when in pursuit of the opposite sex. They feed during their 

 entire lives upon leaves, being especally fond of those of oak and wild 

 cherry. The eggs are dropped loosely and singly upon the ground 

 by the mother, where they remain through the winter, thus tiding 

 the insect over the cold season. The outer case or shell of the egg 

 is hard and often sculptured, and those of our common species re- 

 semble small beans. The young, when hatched, trust to chance and 

 their peculiar shape to escape those higher animal forms whieli are 

 ever ready to prey upon every moving object which promises them a 

 bit of sustenance. 



The family is, in the main, a tropical one, and is very feebly rep- 

 resented in the United States, where but four of the dozen known 

 sub-families are represented by seven genera and sixteen nominal spe- 

 cies. Two of these sub-families are each represented in Indiana by 

 a single genus and species.* 



KEY TO SUB-FAMILIES OF PHASMID^^ OCCURRING IN INDIANA. 



a. Tibiaj not furnished at apex with a short sunken space to receive the 

 base of the tarsi when bent upon them. Mesothorax never less than 

 four times as long as the prothorax, generally more. Hind femora 



armed beneath near the apex with one or more spines 



Bacunculin^, p. 204 



(ta. Tibia? furnished on the under side at apex with a short, sunken space 



to receiA'e the base of the tarsi when bent upon them. Mesothorax 



never more than three times as long as the prothorax, generally 



less. Hind femora without spines ANisoMOEPniN.?<;, p. 207 



'•■■Mr. A. N. Can JeH has recently publislied a monograph of the U. S. species of Phas- 

 midsB in the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, XXVI, 1903, the nomenclature of 

 which I have followed. 



