62 MIMICRY AND HOMOPLASY 



H. S. Leigh, 1 whose account, based on material 

 obtained from the Seychelles and bred in 

 England, I can confirm, having reared them in 

 Ceylon for several years. The body of the 

 males is generally green with a pair of clear 

 ocellations on the fourth abdominal segment ; 

 they vary very little in colour ; they have small 

 tegmina and large wings, and are capable of 

 flight ; their legs break off by autotomy with 

 the greatest ease. The flightless females, on 

 the contrary, appear in two principal varieties, 

 green and red (ferruginous), the green indi- 

 viduals predominating over the russet, but I 

 have been unable to determine any constant 

 numerical relation between them. The russet 

 forms are more variegated and show more 

 individual variation than the green forms. Out 

 of one hundred and eight individuals reared 

 from eggs laid by green females, six russet 

 forms appeared after the later moults ; out of 

 seventy-five individuals reared from eggs laid 

 by two russet females, one russet form appeared. 

 The female leaf insects therefore resemble 

 both green and sere leaves in about the same 

 proportion as the latter occur on green trees in 

 the tropics. Not only this, but when immature 

 they can fold up their abdomen like a curled 

 leaf; and at all stages they sometimes sway like 

 leaves in a breeze, and at other times remain 



1 H. S. Leigh, " Preliminary Account of the Life-History of the 

 Leaf Insect, Phyllium crurifolium Serville," P. Zool. Soc.^ London, 

 1909, pp. 103-113. 



