THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XL.] APRIL, 1907. [No. 527. 



LEAF-INSECTS IN CAPTIVITY. {PULCHRIPHYLLIUM 

 CRURIFOLIUM, Servith.) 



By W. H. St. Quintin, P.E.S., &c. 



Towards the end of May, 1906, I was given some thirty or 

 forty ova of a Phyllium which had been found by a friend who 

 was cruising with Lord Crawford, on the yacht 'Valhalla,' last 

 winter and spring. A good many of the perfect insects and a few 

 larvae had been collected on the island of Mah6 (Seychelles 

 group), and carried on the yacht with great care, and very con- 

 siderable trouble. A cabin, electrically heated, was set apart 

 for them, and branches of the food-plant (wild guava) provided. 

 The food caused a difficulty, for the branches taken on board 

 were soon eaten, and no more could be obtained till Cairo was 

 reached, and a fresh supply brought on board from the Giza 

 Gardens. In the end thirteen were safely landed, and were on 

 view in the Insect House at Piegent's Park for some weeks after- 

 wards. Ova were laid freely on the yacht. Some were left with 

 Captain Stanley Flower at Cairo, others were presented to the 

 Zoological Society, while I was fortunate enough to be entrusted 

 with the remainder. 



What happened to those left at Cairo I never heard, but the 

 ova deposited at the Zoological Gardens hatched, but I believe 

 they did not live long. Luckily, I was lent a copy of the 'Bulle- 

 tin de la Societe Vaudoise,' in which Mons. Morton relates how 

 in 1903 he reared from the egg another species collected in 

 Ceylon {P. scythe). Otherwise I should never have realized the 

 necessity of providing so much moisture as well as heat that the 

 insects evidently require. 



Following Mons. Morton's methods, I placed my ova on 

 silver-sand in a box, over which a piece of muslin, doubled, and 

 kept saturated, was stretched. The box and its contents were 

 sprayed with a fine garden syringe twice a day, and stood in a 

 small stove where the temperature was kept at a high level, 



ENTOM. — APRIL, 1907. H 



