CHAPTER HI. 



WALKING-STICKS AND WALKING-LEAVES (PHASMID^:). 



General Peculiarities. 



These insects, constituting the family Phasmidre, are 

 amongst the most curious of natural objects. They are 

 most extraordinary in appearance ; even more gro- 

 tesque than the IMantida;. Frequently they are of great 

 size, some attaining nine inches, and a foot in length : 

 their variety of form is almost infinite. Their names, 

 both popular and systematic, arise from their singular 

 resemblance to vegetable structures ; some, long and 

 cylindrical, look exactl}' like sticks or stems of grass ; 

 some micrht be mistaken for moss-oTOwn twio-s ; some 

 for lichen-covered bark ; while others are invested with 

 spines, like thorns. The imitative resemblance of those 

 known as the Phylliides to leaves is marvellous. It 

 will be well first to take a rapid survey of the more 

 prominent features of their remarkable body. 



Contrary to what exists among the Mantidae and other 

 carnivorous Orthoptera, the head is ovoid, thick, and has 



