1909. ] LIFE-HISTORY OF THE LEAF-INSECT. 109 
and lasts eight weeks in many instances. The last week of this 
stadium is spent in a rather torpid condition during which the 
larva takes little or no food. A few days before each ecdysis 
the larva (as in many species of insects) ceases to feed, and 
having secured a good foothold on the underside of a leaf remains 
motionless. 
After each ecdysis the larva usually devours its cast skin 
except the legs, and then fasts for about twenty-four hours before 
recommencing to feed upon the leaves. It takes some time for 
a moult to be completed, and forty-five or fifty minutes generally 
elapse from the time of the old skin splitting to the time of 
the larva being entirely free. The whole process of moulting 
appears, however, in the Phyllums to be most curious and 
would take much too long to describe in such an account as the 
present. 
The sexes differ so much in the adult state that they would 
perhaps hardly be recognised by the uninitiated as belonging to 
the same species. The males are much more slender and of 
smaller dimensions than the females, and they do not retain the 
marvellous leaf-like appearance which characterises the latter. 
The length of the male varies from 60 to 70 mm. The head is 
somewhat quadrangular, generally of the same colour as the 
remainder of the body, and possesses two or three red ocelli 
which are situated between and slightly behind the level of the 
bases of the antenne. The eyes are rather globular and very 
prominent. The antennee—which are placed between the eyes— 
are pilose and very long, often attaining 32 mm.; they are 
composed of twenty-four joints which are smaller near the head, 
becoming gradually larger in the middle and finally small again 
at the extremities. When in motion the insect carries the 
antenne forward either in a horizontal or semi-vertical position, 
but when at rest they are placed backwards as shown in the 
figure. 
The prothorax is heart-shaped and tapers a little toward the 
posterior end. The mesothorax is broader than the prothorax 
and carries the tegmina, which are 13 mm. long and of parchment- 
like consistence. The latter—which only cover a small portion 
of the wings—are green but frequently spotted with brown or 
red. The metathorax is of about the same width as the mesc- 
thorax and bears two large membranous wings which extend 
when folded almost to the posterior end of the body. The wings 
are of delicate texture and are furnished with a regular network 
of nervures and nervules;, in repose they fold up like a fan. 
They are marked in several places with smaJl dark red streaks. 
The first three abdominal segments become successively broader 
until the maximum width of 24 mm. is reached in the fourth 
abdominal. At each side of this segment there is a circular 
transparent spot surrounded by a brown ring, and from here 
the body becomes gradually narrower, finally terminating in a 
bifid protuberance. The abdomen is exceedingly flat, and the 
