138 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES AND REMARKS ON THE DESCRIBED 

 GENERA AND SPECIES OF THE AUSTRALIAN 

 AND POLYNESIAN PHASMID.E OR "SPECTRE 

 INSECTS." 



By J. G. O. Tepper, F.L.S., &c. 



(Communicated by C. French, F.L.S.) 



{Read hefore the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Wth Jan., 1903.) 



The Phasmidse form a well-defined family of the order Orthoptera, 

 in the class Insecta, among the Articulata. They include the 

 largest insects known, and are popularly called " Walking-stick 

 Insects," or " Spectre Insects," on account of the excessive length 

 of their bodies and limbs compared with their thickness and 

 bulk. In this respect only one other family — that of the 

 Mantidse — approaches them in general size, form, and colouration. 

 The latter, however, have very strong and stout raptorial fore- 

 legs, while the former have long, slender, and weak ones, not 

 fitted for grasping, but for climbing, which indicates the respective 

 habits. For, while the Mantids are exclusively predatory, the 

 Phasmids are as exclusively herbivorous. I have observed one 

 of the indigenous Mantids that had captured a Phasmid twice its 

 size, and had, when seen, devoured about one-half of the larger 

 insect. Another peculiarity is that the femora of the forelegs are 

 bent or excised near their base in such a way that they can be 

 extended forward parallel to each other, and then enclose the 

 head between them. The middle and last pair of legs are 

 usually stouter than the first, and in some cases furnished with 

 strong ridges and more or less prominent spines and appendages. 



The head is more or less flattened, elongated, and firmly fixed, 

 so that it cannot be turned, as is the case with the Mantids. It 

 is furnished with promiscuous palpi and antennae of various length 

 and number of joints, also sometimes with one to three ocelli. 



The prothorax is very short comparatively; the mesothorax, 

 however, exceeds the former several times in length, but bears the 

 tegmina or wing-covers as well as the middle pair of legs at its 

 posterior end. The metathorax, again, is short, but stout, bearing 

 the hind legs, and the wings, if present. It is intimately conjoined 

 to the first abdominal segment, the junction being indicated by a 

 low transverse ridge above. 



In many genera both sexes remain permanently wingless ; in 

 others the females alone remain so, while the males are provided 

 with more or less ample wings ; in the remainder, though both 

 sexes possess wings as adults, the latter present a great variety in 

 respect of their development, for, whereas those of the males are 

 always permitting their use for flight, those of the females range 

 down from most ample to most diminutive dimensions in different 

 genera, so that the two sexes present a very different appearance, 



