June, '11] 



SEVERINS ON WALKING-STICK 



3U 



TABLE III 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS IN MM. OF DIAPHEROMERA FEMORATA AFTER EACH MOLT. 



A comparison of the average measurements of the male and female 

 walking-sticks, which completed five molts, shows that the males 

 excel the females in the lengths of the antennse, all of the femora 

 and in the distance from the distal end of the extended front legs 

 to the end of the abdomen; the females, however, excel the males 

 in the length of the abdomen. 



There are certain indications which appear when the walking- 

 stick is about to molt. The body becomes greatly distended, the 

 lateral folds of the abdomen as well as the membranous connections 

 between any two adjacent segments becoming greatly stretched; 

 the body, in short, shows a rounding out, a certain fullness and plump- 

 ness. Previous to ecdysis, the Phasmid also stops eating and empties 

 out most of the material from the digestive canal; but if, after molt- 

 ing, the chitinous lining of the fore-intestine and hind-intestine of 

 the exuvium is examined, it is evident that not all of the contents 

 have been evacuated. When hatched from the egg, the young creature 

 is of a uniform pale green color, which a day or two before the first 

 or second ecdysis deepens into a darker green; after either of these 

 molts, the young walking-stick again assumes the uniform pale green 

 color. 



La Baume (4), in discussing the coloration in Diapheromera claims 



