58 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS. 



In no group of insects as a whole is it more difficult 

 to distinguish the young and the adult states. Among 

 the winged species it is not always possible to distinguish 

 on a young form whether it will, or will not, in course 

 of time, receive the organs of flight. According to 

 Murray, the wings in Phyllium disclose themselves in 

 the period of youth by slight swellings on the meso- and 

 meta-thorax, but it is very doubtful if this character is 

 always well indicated. In Phyllium the organs remain 

 of very small size till the third moult, which suddenly 

 liberates them in their full development ; they are drawn 

 out of little cases about a quarter of an inch long, and 

 a few brief moments suffice for them to attain their 

 perfect size of about two and a half inches ; half an hour 

 after the last moult the insect is fit for flight. The same 

 may be said of their long antennae, which are twenty- 

 four jointed as possessed by the adult males, contrary to 

 the females, which have them much shorter, consisting 

 of but nine joints. But these organs remain rudimentary 

 in the two sexes during the young period : it is only 

 in the last moult that they acquire among males their 

 normal length, suddenly shooting out with twenty-four 

 joints. Among the subapterous insects there are species 

 which keep in the adult state the wings in the immature 

 form, analogous to that of the young insects. We cannot, 

 therefore, from the appearance the rudimentary wings 

 assume deduce any positive character, that can help us 



