WALKING-STICKS AND WALKING-LEAVES. 53 



elongated pit banded with yellow. In Bacteria cornuta 

 they greatly resemble leguminous seeds ; the little 



t 



FIG. 13. Eggs of different walking-sticks. 



operculum at the end is distinct on a smooth edge which 

 it exactly fits, the rest of the surface being variously 

 impressed. In some species the cap becomes a sort of 

 knob, and carvings of different designs are seen on the 

 sides of the egg itself, particularly about the part that 

 presents the sunken pit. These eggs are deposited in 

 no careful way, not secured to any object, but, it is 

 worthy of remark, are shed like seeds, being dropped at 

 random loosely on the ground ; for the mother, unlike 

 most orthopterous insects, makes no provision for their 

 safety. The noise caused by the dropping of the eggs 

 of Diapheromera femorata from the plants on which the 

 insects are feeding to the ground, might be mistaken for 

 the pattering of rain. Thus unprotected, the eggs of 

 this species sometimes lie till the second year before 

 hatching. 



Yet in a certain way the egg is protected, for each 

 egg is really a capsule or sac containing an egg, 



