1S2 NATURAL H1KTOUI. 



green, but the wings and tegmina are often variegated, and the former sometimes very beautifully 

 coloured. 



The Phasmidae reside chiefly upon trees and bushes, the leaves of which seem to constitute their 

 sole food. They are nocturnal in their habits, resting during the day among the twigs and branches, 

 where their stiff and somewhat ungainly forms may easily lead to their being mistaken for dried 

 portions of the plant. When resting, the fore legs are stretched forward at the sides of the head, 

 for the reception of which the femora are generally bowed out near the base ; the other limbs 

 are brought close to the sides of the body, and the whole insect acquires a most unobtrusive appear- 

 ance. When danger threatens also these insect? will stiffen themselves, and counterfeit death. 

 They are said to have very voracious appetites, and sometimes to do mischief to cultivated trees and 

 plants. 



Curiously enough, while the majority of the Phasmiclae simulate portions of the woody structure 

 of the plants they frequent, a few species belonging to the East Indian region present a striking 

 resemblance to leaves, so much so, indeed, that they were formerly supposed to be a sort of compound 

 animal and vegetable organism, and even now cases are sometimes made up by the natives of the 

 countries inhabited by these curious creatures, in which Walking sticks of different sizes 

 are joined together to represent the branches of a tree, while the foliage is composed of a few 

 Walking-leaves stuck on here and there. These Walking- leaves form the genus P/ti/lUinn, and 

 they constitute one of the most singular of insect types. The head and exposed segments of the 

 thorax form a sort of stalk, behind which the abdomen is greatly dilated in the form of a thin 

 flat piate, nearly covered in the female by a pair of tegmina veined in such a manner that when 

 the two are placed close together they represent a leaf with its mid-rib, and distinct veins running 

 from the mid-rib to the margins, whilst the space between the veins is reticulated so as closely to 

 resemble the parenchymatous portions of the leaf. The male is amply provided with wings, only 

 partially covered by the short tegmina, and has longer antennae than the female, in which the latter 

 organs are very short and the wings altogether wanting. The femora are also dilated like little 

 leaves, and the same character is presented by the front tibiae. These insects are of a green, colour 

 when alive, which often changes to a yellowish-brown tint after death ; hence the best-known species 

 has been described as Phyllium siccifolium. 



FAMILY VI. BLATTID^VOR COCKROACHES. 



This family includes the numerous species of Cockroaches, or Kakerlaks, one of which, under 

 the name of the Blackbeetle, is but too well known to most housekeepers. They present a very 

 considerable uniformity of general characters, the body being commonly rather flattened and of an 

 oval form, and the head entirely, or almost entirely, concealed beneath the anterior margin of the 

 broad and shield-like prothorax, and so placed that its crown, which rarely bears any ocelli, is 

 directed forward. The eyes are large, and more or less kiclnay-shaped ; the antennae long, tapering, 

 bristle-like, and composed of many joints ; the outer lobes of the labium are considerably larger than 

 the inner ones ; the coxse are approximated, the tibiae spinous, and the tarsi always five-jointed. The 

 tegmina and wings are generally developed, although sometimes abbreviated, especially in the females. 

 When they attain their full development the tegmina overlie one another at their inner margins, 

 and exhibit a strong vein near the outer margins, from which branches are given off on both sides. 

 The wings show the usual fan-like arrangement of veins. The abdomen presents nine or ten 

 dorsal and from six to eight ventral rings, and at the extremity a pair of jointed cerci. 



The Blattidse are represented in all parts of the world, but most abundantly within the tropics, 

 and especially in America, where also the largest and finest species are to be found. They are active 

 animals, running with considerable rapidity, but their activity is chiefly nocturnal, and during the 

 day they generally remain quietly concealed in some obscure retreat. The introduction of a light into 

 their haunts stops their operations, and generally causes them to run away in confusion to their 

 holes, hence the name of " Lucifugae " has sometimes been given to them. This applies more 

 particularly to the species which frequent houses, &c. Some of the smaller species, which live in 

 the open air, do not show the same dread of light, although even these are generally active only at 

 night. Their diet consists of both animal and vegetable substartces, but the former seem to be 



