STICK-INSECTS. 



(June 22, 1889.) 



WE are sorry to say that the leaf-insect lately 

 presented to the Society by Lord Walsingham is 

 dead ; and this fact is the more to be regretted as 

 during the present week a considerable number of 

 stick-insects have hatched out in the insect-house. 

 Had it survived, it would have been interesting to 

 see side by side living specimens of these very 

 nearly allied, though to the casual observer 

 extremely dissimilar, forms. 



The leaf -insects, spectres, or walking sticks, 

 though the number of species is not large, are 

 widely distributed, being found not only throughout 

 the Tropics, but extending their range into more 

 temperate regions; for example, the eggs from 

 which the insects now in the Zoo were hatched 

 were brought from Canada, the species (Diaphe- 

 mora femorata) to which they belong ranging 

 throughout the North and North- West of the 

 United States and through parts of the Dominion. 

 Again, two species are found in the South of 

 Europe, occurring in Italy and the South of 

 France. As may be readily imagined, the tropical 

 species are by far the largest, some of them 



