1909. ] LIFE-HISTORY OF THE LEAF-INSECT. 105 
interested in these strange insects whilst in India, attempted to 
bring some back with her; she received some eggs in 1854 which 
hatched in due course, and Murray (1856) gave an account of a 
specimen which was reared to maturity in the Royal Botanic 
Gardens of Edinburgh. Prior to this, I believe the trans- 
formations and habits had not been watched by any naturalist. 
The Phylliums are peculiar to the Old World, being mostly 
confined to the islands of the Indian Ocean, and they would seem 
to have a special predilection for insular life. Several species 
inhabit the Seychelles and Ceyion, whilst others occur in 
Mauritius, Borneo, Java, Celebes, and the Philippines, and some 
are reported to extend as far as the Fiji Islands. One species, 
Phyllium scythe, is recorded from the mountainous regions of 
Noxthern India. 
The eggs of the Leaf-Insect have been studied in Europe on 
several occasions: by Murray in 1855, Joly in 1871, Henneguy 
in 1890, and others—they all speak of their great resemblance to 
seeds. The egg of Phylliwm crurifolium is about the size of a 
sweet-pea seed and resembles very closely the seeds of certain 
umbelliferous plants. Murray, speaking of P. scythe, says: ‘If 
the edges of the seed of the Mirabilis jalapa were rubbed off, the 
seed might be mistaken for the ege.” The egg—which is 
in reality a capsule containing the egg—is of a brown colour, 
somewhat barrel- shaped, with “five longitudinal ribs, all of w hich 
are equal distances apart, except two between which the space 1s 
wider. The surface of the egg is rough and cork-like, and there 
is usually an irregular row of small pits in the spaces between the 
longitudinal ribs. The large space is much smoother and flatter 
than the other portion of the egg, and in the centre there is a 
groove of an oval form extending almost from the apex to the 
base and enclosing a small scar or hollow which I believe has been 
compared to the hilum in seeds. At the apex of the egg a 
conical lid or stopper is attached, whilst the base is slightly 
concave. 
The capsule of the egg appears, without the aid of a lens, to be 
of a rather fibrous nature, but when examined with a microscope 
the true porous texture is revealed. If, as Murray says, this 
outer covering had been of a firm subs stance, the embryo insect 
could not have received the amount of air and moisture necessary 
for its existence. Moisture and warmth are two extremely im- 
portant factors in the development of Phylliwm, and certainly if 
the eggs were surrounded with a compact substance the young 
insect could not develop. As in most Phasmide, the eggs are not 
glued on to surrounding objects, but are deposited loosely and fall 
through the foliage to the ground where they remain for some 
time before hatching; they are retained for a few minutes 
between the gonapophyses of the female after their extrusion 
from the oviduct and are afterwards shot out to some distance. 
In some cases ova were found three feet or more from the 
female. 
