64 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS. 



nowhere in circumference except at the base of the 

 legs. Some species of Bacteria are so excessively slender 

 that the linear body is scarcely as thick as one of the 

 legs it bears. 



Others, again, can fly, having ample wings, and, 

 oddly enough, often gayly coloured. Look at the large 

 spectre Acrophylla titan of Australia, a giant of its kind 

 (see Fig. 14) : its charming wings generally blackish 

 brown in colour, but irregularly spotted and banded 

 with white, the costal portion variegated with green 

 and pink, and expand fully eight inches ; while the long 

 cylindrical body itself exceeds this length, and is as thick 

 as a man's little finger. Some kinds of Tropidoderus 

 and Podacanthus, also from Australia, likewise expand 

 eight and even nine inches in flight, and have a stouter 

 though shorter cylindrical body. Podacanthus typhon, 

 the pink-winged spectre, is one of the showiest species, 

 owing to its size and the fine pink colour which tinges the 

 hyaline wings ; while the front portion of the wings, like 

 the short tegmina, is of a grass-green : but when at 

 rest the immense and brilliant wings fold up like a 

 fan, so that the pink colour is completely concealed 

 under the narrow front and wing-covers, and the whole 

 stick-like insect is then green or brown, and almost 

 invisible among the twigs or foliage. 



