7 6 TRUE TALES OE THE INSECTS. 



Dislriluitioii. 



Not the genus Phyllium alone is exotic, the whole family 

 of Phasmidse is eminently tropical. About six hundred 

 species of the family are known — by the way, a number 

 small in comparison with that in many of the large families 

 of Insecta — but only four or five are found in Europe, 

 slender apterous green or brown kinds, measuring but 

 two or three inches in length ; and they are all restricted 

 to the south, only one reaching as far north as Central 

 France. They belong to the genus Bacillus, and while 

 common enough in the female form, in comparison the 

 males are extremely rare. In the temperate regions of 

 America we find similar restriction. 



In the warm portions of the globe Phasmidse are of 

 almost universal distribution. Formerly India and the 

 isles of the Indian Archipelago were regarded as con- 

 stituting the metropolis of the group, but recent re- 

 searches seem rather to point to Australia as the region 

 where they are now most largely developed. A species 

 of Podacanthus is so common, that it is rare in the 

 summer-time in any part of Australia to find a gum-tree 

 without a few feeding upon it ; and occasionally the trees 

 for miles will be denuded of their foliage by it. New 

 Zealand has several species of Phasmidse, differing from 

 the Australian forms, and all wingless. Of America it 



