PHASMIM:. 239 



inserted before the eyes, seldom of great length, 

 ar.d the joints elongated. The tegmina are often 

 wanting : when they exist they are short and narrow, 

 never covering the hinder wings ; the latter are often 

 large, and not unfrequently ornamented with bright 

 colours, a circumstance which generally takes place 

 when the wings are not destined to he covered by a 

 sheath. The prothorax is short, the body very long 

 and linear. 



These insects live exclusively on vegetable food. 

 Their mandibles accordingly are of a different form 

 from those of the mantidae, and better adapted for 

 gnawing. Like grasshoppers and locusts they lay 

 their eggs in the earth, and for this purpose the 

 females are provided with a small ensiform ovipositor 

 .n the extremity of the abdomen, covered by three 

 leaflets when unemployed. The eggs of some of 

 the species are of considerable size, certainly among 

 the largest to be found in this class of animals. 

 Those of Phasma dilatatum are of a slightly oblong 

 shape, flattened on one end. They are of a brown 

 colour and marked all over with numerous impressed 

 points, and have on one side a mark or double 

 waved line so disposed as to represent a kind of 

 cross. The flattened end is surrounded by a small 

 rim or ledge, and seems to be the part which opens 

 for the exclusion of the larva, since it readily separ- 

 ates from the rest.* 



If not the most bulky of insects, some of the 



* Linn. Trans, iv. pi. 18. fig. 4, 5. 



