PHASM1DJE. 241 



and thick, and occasionally produced upwards in a 

 conical form. The joint bearing the claws is like- 

 wise strong, and a large sucker is placed between 

 the latter ; suckers are likewise attached to the 

 underside of the other joints, enabling the insects to 

 secure a footing even where there are few or no 

 inequalities on the surface. 



The legs are seldom provided with leaf-like ex- 

 pansions among the typical Phasmidae, although a 

 tendency to that structure appears in P. latipes and 

 some others. In the genus Phyllium, however, the 

 principal species of which is so remarkable for its 

 perfect similarity to a laurel leaf, the thighs and an- 

 terior tibiae are both excessively dilated. The legs 

 are frequently inserted at equal distances, (as in the 

 genus Cladoxerus), at other times the middle and 

 hinder pairs approximate. The forelegs being placed 

 just behind the head, have a piece scooped out of 

 the femora at the base, in order to afford room for 

 its free movement. 



The sexes of these insects may be distinguished 

 by the males being much smaller than the females ; 

 their antennae longer and thicker; thetegmina smaller, 

 more pointed, and spined at the base. In the males 

 also the forelegs are proportionably longer, thinner, 

 and armed with fewer spines. 



The phasmidse are more decidedly tropical insects 

 than the mantidae. The intertropical regions ot 

 Asia, America, and the great islands of the Indian 

 Ocean are the appropriate abodes of the largest ana 

 most remarkable kinds. Africa, Western Asia, and 



