1873.] J. Wood-Mason — On Phasmidce. 119 



Lonclwdes Stilpnus, Westw., Lonclwdes pseudoporus, Westw. Lonclwdes 

 Bussellii, Bates, &c, affords another instructive illustration not only 

 of the extreme imperfection of our knowledge of this family of Orthop- 

 terous Insects, but also of the utter futility of any attempt satisfactorily to 

 distribute the species composing it into genera, until we shall be in posses- 

 sion of the true pairs of many more of the described species. 



In 1869 M. Henri de Saussure* proposed, prematurely as it turns out, 

 to divide the genus Bacillus into three subgenera, one {Bacillus) for the 

 reception of B. Bossii and its allies, another (Bamulus) for B. humilis, 

 Westw., B. carinalatus, Sauss., &c, and a third (Baculum) for B. cun- 

 icularis, Westw., B. ramosus, Sauss, &c. ; and in the first part of my memoir 

 on the Phasmidce,] I provisionally referred to the last named subgenus 

 one known and three new species, pointing out that these agreed together 

 in having the last dorsal abdominal segment longitudinally grooved, and 

 mentioning, in the description of each species, the presence, in the posterior 

 border of this segment, of an emargination filled by a well-developed supra- 

 anal plate which is invariably to be found in the females of all species of Lon 

 chodes. I have long felt convinced that the insect of which a description 

 is appended, was the male of my Bacillus (Baculum) insignis but have 

 thought it better to wait for evidence confirmatory of the fact. This 

 has, at length, reached me from Ceylon, thanks to Mr. Hugh Nevill, C. C. 

 C, who has been kind enough to send me, amongst other species of great 

 interest and value, the two sexes of an insect agreeing admirably with 

 M. de Saussure'sJ description of L. pseudoporus, Westw. 



The discovery of the male of B. insignis will obviously also necessitate 

 the transference of the following species to the genus Lonclwdes : — Bacillus 

 cunicularis et Hypliereon, Westw. B. patellifer et scytale, Bates, B. ramo- 

 sus, Sauss., B. Pentliesilea et furcillatus, Wood-Mas. ; and I strongly 

 suspect that B. Westwoodi et scabriusculus will eventually have to follow 

 them to the same genus. 



Lonchodes insignis. 



£ Bacillus (Baculum) insignis, Wood-Mason, Journ. A. S. B., Vol. XLII, 1873, 



pp. 51, 52, pi. V. fig. 1, 2. 



$ Body of excessive tenuity. Antennae perfectly filiform, 24-jointed, 

 reaching nearly to the apex of the anterior femora. The head is almost a 

 complete miniature of that of the female and in the specimen from which the 

 dimensions given below are taken has two minute tubercles between the eyes 

 representing the well-developed horns of the opposite sex. Three dark dorsal 



* Mel. Orth. Fasc. II, pp. Ill, 112. 

 t Journ. A. S. B., 1873Pt. II, No. I. 

 % Op. cit., pp. 120, 121. 



