



LEAF INSECT. Phyllium scythe. (Female.) 



being entirely justified in trying to escape from such direful foes as the ants of its own 

 country. During the late war in India, a picket of soldiers contrived to disturb a large 

 wasps' nest, and were forced to scatter in all directions in order to avoid the attacks of 

 their small but formidable antagonists, for whose assaults they, being Highlanders, were 

 very ill prepared. Yet no one would impugn the courage of the soldiers (the officer in 

 command, an old pupil of my own, having won the Victoria Cross) ; and the ants are even 

 more terrible foes to the Mantis than the wasps to human beings, their dimensions being 

 quite disproportionate, and their usual prey being insects whom they overpower by 

 numbers and united action, so that the size and courage of the Mantis are impotent 

 when opposed to such foes. 



THYSANOPTERA. 



THE next order, according to Mr. Westwood's arrangement, is that called the Thysa- 

 noptera, or Fringe- winged Insects, on account of the manner in which the wings are edged 

 with long and delicate cilia. They are all little insects, seldom exceeding the tenth or 

 twelfth of an inch, in length, but, although small, are capable of doing considerable 

 damage. They are mostly to be found on plants and flowers, especially those blossoms 

 where the petals are wide and deep and afford a good shelter. The convolvulus is always 

 a great favourite with them. Greenhouses are sadly liable to their inroads, and owing to 

 their numbers they are very injurious to melons, cucumbers, and similar plants, covering 

 their leaves with a profusion of decayed patches, that look as if some powerful acid 

 had been sprinkled over them. Only one family of these insects is acknowledged by 

 entomologists. 



