ope 
REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. . 243 
1875 the insects appeared in fewer numbers. In 1876 they were even 
more numerous than in 1874, and covered a larger area. In 1877 again 
they attracted less attention, while last summer I found that Mr. Snow’s 
accounts were by no means exaggerated. By the middle of August the 
bulk of the pests were going through their last molt, and by the end of 
autumn they had stripped most of the trees, showing, however, a decided , 
preference for the Black, Red, and Rock-chestnut oaks over the White 
oaks and. Hickories, which they afiect but little till after the first-men- 
tioned trees are stripped. The underbrush was also very. effectually 
cleaned of its foliage, and the insects hung from and clung to the bare 
twigs and branches in great clusters. They settle to roost on the Witch 
hazel, but do not defoliate it until the other trees mentioned are pretty 
bare. Sumach and Thorn are also little affected, while Peach and Apple 
in an adjoining orchard were untouched. Whenever they have entirely 
stripped the trees and shrubs they move in bodies to fresh pastures, 
crowding upon one another and covering the ground, the fence-rails, 
and everything about them so that it is impossible for a person to enter 
the woods without being covered by them. The timber affected can be 
recognized by its seared and leafless appearance from a great distance, 
and upon entering the woods the ear is greeted by a peculiar seething 
noise, resulting fromthe motion of the innumerable jaws at work on the 
leaves. Their depredations first begin to attract attention soon after 
wheat harvest, and are most noticeable in September. The injury to 
the trees done in 1874 and 1876 was manifest in the death of most of 
the black oaks, and, according to Mr. Snow’s observations, trees die in 
three years after the first attack. 
The unexampled multiplication and destructiveness of this insect at 
Eisperange farm is but one of the many illustrations of the fact long 
since patent to all close students of economic entomology, that species 
normally harmless may suddenly become very injurious. 
‘ 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
_ Owing doubtless to its having so generally been considered harmless, 
the habits of the Thick-thighed walking-stick have not hitherto’ been 
carefully studied ; and it was not known how it passed the winter or 
where the eggs were laid. These eggs, which were first briefly described 
by me in 1874,* are 2.8™™ Jong, oval in shape, slightly compressed at the 
sides, and of a polished black color, with a ventral whitish stripe. They 
look not unlike some plump, diminutive leguminose seed. They are simply 
dropped loosely upon the ground from whatever height the females may 
happen to be, and, during the latter part of autumn where the insects 
are cominon, one hears a constant pattering, got unlike drops of rain, 
that results from the abundant dropping of these eggs, which in places 
lay so thick among and under the dead leaves that they may be scraped 
up in great quantities. 
From general observations of specimens kept in confinement, it would 
appear that each female is capable of laying upwards of a hundred. 
The eggs remain upon the ground all through the winter and hatch for 
the most part during the month of May. Some of them, however, con- 
tinue hatching much later, so that all through the summer and eyen into 
the fall, young individuals may be found. The embryo just about to 
hateh les within the egg with the head pressed against the oval lid, and 
the body curled around so that the end of the abdomen, which is thick- 
“New York Weekly Tribune, November 11, 1874. 
