THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



179 



the body carrying the middle legs and 

 extending to the base of the fore legs) 

 is short, and those in which it is long. 



SPECIES WITH A SHORT MESOTIIORAX. 



The most extraordinary-looking of all 

 our species of phasmas is, without doubt, 

 the Spiny Leaf Insect {Extatosoma 

 tiaratum). The female of this species 

 is not uncommon, though the male is very 

 rarely met with. She measures five 

 inches in length, and is green in colour. 

 The head is conical and spiny, and the 

 legs and abdomen have broad, spiny, 

 leaf-like expansions, il'he wings are re- 

 duced to mere flaps in the female but 

 the male has well developed wings. It 

 feeds on the foliage of euealypts, but 

 Mr. Froggatt, Government Entomolo- 

 gist, has recorded it as having been 

 taken on the foliage of peach trees in 

 an orchard on the Brunswick River. It 

 occurs in Queensland and New South 

 Wales. 



The female of the Yellow-winged Spec- 

 tre (Tropidoderus childreni), is much 



The female of the Spiny Leaf Insect 

 (Extatosoma tiaratum). 



Photo. — G. C. Cluttou. 



The female of the Yellow Winged 

 Spectre (Tropidoderus childreni) may 

 easily be recognised by the leaf-like 

 expansions on the femora of the middle 

 and hind legs. 



Photo. — G. C. Glutton. 



commoner in collections than the male. 

 It measures from five to six inches in 

 length, and from seven to nine inches 

 across the expanded wings. In the 

 thighs (femora) of the middle and hind 

 legs are broad, flat, leaf-like expansions, 

 which in themselves are sufifieient to es- 

 tablish the identity of the species and 

 also the sex, the male being without 

 them. I'he colour of the body is yellow 

 or yellow green, while the thickened 

 parts of the wings and the keel-shaped 

 ventral segments are green. The bases 

 of the wings are yellow, though in some 

 forms the colour is red or purple. The: 

 membranous part is hyaline and nearly 

 transparent. 



The species occurs in N.S. Wales, Vic- 

 toria, and Queensland, and feeds on the 

 foliage of gum trees. 



The most beautiful examples of our 

 Australian phasmas are included in the 



