﻿52 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



segments of the abdomen, where not fitted to the posterior legs, 

 are provided with flaps or quasi claspers. All the legs fit most 

 beautifully and closely to the side of the abdomen [body rather] . 

 Their outer margin is dentate and provided with a thick fringe 

 of hair, which, like the feathers of a duck, repels water. More- 

 over, at the knee-joint [this applies only to the front legs] where 

 there is unavoidably an opening or unprotected space, it is pro- 

 vided with a flap, or side knee-pan— a provision which occurs 

 in no other insect with which I am acquainted. This flap hangs 

 down, filling up the opening, and is furnished, like the rest of 

 the outer margins of the leg and body, with a supply of hair 

 impervious to water. The posture of the animal in "the water 

 is : fastened to the upper surface of a stone, and with its head 

 turned up stream in opposition to the current. It sits with its 

 forelegs extended forwards in front of the head, and the inner 

 side of the thighs is hollowed out exactly to fit the sides of the 

 head, and the thigh itself is bent down so as to form a continu- 

 ation of the sides of the long cup or saucer which the underside 

 of the animal represents. The antennae fold back on the upper- 

 side of the head, where there is a depression to receive them. 

 In the other Phasmidae the tegmina or upper wing-cases are 

 usually short, narrow and coriaceous, and apparently not fitted 

 for much use. Here they are as long as the body, so as to cover 

 the whole of the large uuderwings when folded up ; they are 

 broad enough to do so ; and the whole are only of a semi- 

 coriaceous texture, flexible and pergaminous, but most so at the 

 base, thinning away at the termination into a finer texture, 

 approaching that of the lower wings. The claws of the tarsi 

 are strong, powerful, and well adapted for clinging." 



Not satisfied with the proofs thus set forth of its aquatic 

 habits, IVlurray next goes on to endow the insect with powers 

 possessed by no other insect known : — 



" In this animal we seem to have a combination of two plans 

 of structure : there are the claws and claspers and flaps for 

 holding on by ; there is the hollow underside for adhering, by 

 exhausting the air between it and the stone it clings to, on the 

 principle of the air pump. If, when it settles on the stone and 

 adjusts itself, its tracheae are full of air, and it then expels the 

 air and by muscular power draws in the skin of the abdomen 

 and underside generally, it must, of course, leave a vacuum, and 

 consequently adhere like a sucker." 



We need not dwell upon the extravagance of the suggestions 

 put forward here by Andrew IVlurray. It is enough for us to 

 know that there is an insect, in all essential respects exactly like 

 the one described by him, which has the habit, not of clinging 

 to stones under water, but of spending the day in clinging by 

 means of its strong claws alone to the bark of a tree. We can 

 see how well this insect is adapted by its colours for concealment 



