Que MR. H. S. LEIGH ON THE | Feb. 2, 
thirty young larvee of Phylliwm crurifolium from Mr. St. Quintin, 
F.Z.S., and it is owing entirely to his kindness in presenting them 
to me and also in furnishing me with a few of the more important 
suggestions as to the conditions necessary for successfully rearing 
them, that I have been able to observe the habits of the insects in 
confinement. 
The eggs that I received were laid by insects which Mr. St 
Quintin had reared during the winter of 1906 and 1907, and he 
is, I think, the first naturalist who has bred the Leaf-Insect im 
this country. The original stock was brought from the Seychelles. 
to England in the spring of 1906 by Lord Crawford. 
The genus Phylliwm*, which constitutes the tribe Phylliides and 
raeladee all the Leaf- Tensace, comprises perhaps some of the most 
extraordinary of all living insects; their wonderful similarity to. 
vegetable structures has often aroused the admiration of natura- 
lists, but it is only upon gaining a more complete knowledge of 
their life-histories that we can fully appreciate this most as- 
tonishing example of ‘“ Protective Resemblance.” It is not a 
matter of much surprise that the Leaf-Insects were thought at 
one time to be of a vegetable as well as of an animal nature. 
This imaginative belief has given rise to several peculiar ideas,. 
and one prevalent notion amongst the people in those countries 
which these insects inhabit is, that the insect is in reality a 
changed leaf that has adopted the strange practice of walking (de 
Borre, 1883). 
The genus of Leaf-Insects was thought in the time of Linnzeus 
to consist of only one species; this was named Mantis siccifolius: 
(1767), and was figured by Rdésel (1749). Stoll (1815) gave 
figures of two species, whilst Serville (1839) mentions three species 
in his ‘ Histoire Naturelle des Orthopteres. In 1843 Gray 
described thirteen species, many of which were new, and West- 
wood (1859) mentions fifteen species. Joly (1871) described more 
fully than any previous author the natural history and anatomy 
of Phyllium crurifolium Serv.; and later, in 1887, Brongniart 
gives a short account of the development of Phyllium siccifolium 
Linn. Since that time very little appears to have been written 
until 1903, when Morton’s paper “ Notes sur l’élevage des. 
Phyllies” was published; and quite recently two short papers 
have been written by St. Quintin: one “ Leaf-Insects in 
Captivity ” (1907), and the other ‘“‘ Notes on the Life-history of 
the Leaf-Insect ” (1908). 
Apart from these, little work appears to have been done 
recently, and our knowledge of the life-history of the Leaf-Insect 
is still meagre. 
The first living examples of Phylliwum were brought to this 
country in 1854. The bringing of living specimens was attended 
with some difficulty, but Mrs. Blackwood, who was greatly 
* Kirby (1904) includes three genera in his subfamily Phylliine, viz. Chitoniscus, 
Pulchriphyllium, Phylliun. 
