THE WALKING-STICK INSECT. 



391 



they, being in the pupa state, come to the surface and the perfect Cicada appears, leaving the 

 empty cases belaud. Myriads of these creatures infest the oak forests, making the stridulous 

 concerts so characteristic of them during the entire day. Whittier says of them, they 



" Stab the noon silence 

 With their shrill alarm." 



Or, in popular language, zeeing expresses their note, if it can be called a note, for it is the 

 result of a mechanical rasping. 



Now and then is found in the fields a very large, locust-like insect, of a beautiful grass- 

 green hue, and having at the end of its tail a long, flat-bladed instrument called an ovipositor, 

 and used for the purpose of boring holes in the earth and placing its eggs below the surface. 

 This is the Great Green Grasshopper (P7iasgonura, or Acrida viridissima), which unfor- 

 tunately loses its soft, light green color soon after death, and as it dries becomes a dirty 

 yellowish-brown. It is a very fine insect, often measuring two inches in length, and three 

 inches and a half over the expanded wings. It seems to be rather capricious in its appear- 

 ances, in some years being quite plentiful, and in others hardly to be seen. The jaws of this 

 insect are wonderfully powerful, and its captor will act wisely to keep his finger out of their 

 reach. The internal structure of this grasshopper is extremely interesting, and on account of 

 its large dimensions are easily studied. The gizzard is especially worthy of notice. 



A singular insect is the Eyed Pterochroza. It is one of those beings in which are found 

 a strong resemblance to other parts of creation. In this insect, we have an example of a 

 member of the animal kingdom reproducing with startling fidelity the forms, colors, and even 

 the accidental variations of leaves and flowers, thus exhibiting another phase of that wonderful 

 adaptive power, which gives to many flowers, such as the orchids, a striking resemblance to 

 bees, butterflies, and other insects. In this instance, the resemblance to leaves is not only due 

 to the peculiar outline and the leaf-like nervures, but to the presence of certain spots which 

 look exactly like the tracks of leaf-mining or leaf-devouring caterpillars. These creatures 

 belong to the same family as the locusts, and their habitation is Brazil. 



The locusts (Locus far ice) of North America include some very interesting forms. The 

 Katydid, whose notes so invade night's attribute, stillness, during autumn, and some smaller 

 ones, Mcantlius, are notable for their characteristic notes. 



The grasshoppers (Aci'ydce) are familiar enough in America, particularly in view of their 

 monstrous destructive habits in the grain-fields. A species in Florida, called the Lubber 

 Grasshopper, feeds on the orange-trees. 



A strange-looking insect, with an attenuated body and long, slender limbs, is the Walk- 

 ing-stick Insect. It is one of a most remarkable family of Orthoptera, none of which are 

 found excepting in the 

 hottest parts of the earth. 

 That the Walking-stick 

 Insect fully deserves its 

 name, will at once be 

 recognized by reference 

 to the engraving. This 

 to the 



belongs 



WALKING-STICK INSECT, grown and as larva.— Bacteria Irophina. ll" natural size.) 



insect 



family of Phasmidae, an 



appropriate title, derived from a Greek word signifying a spectre, many of these creatures 

 being, as it were, the mere unsubstantial visions or shadowy outlines of insects. 



The chief point of interest in these creatures is their marvellous external resemblance to 

 certain portions of the vegetable kingdom ; some assuming the forms of a broken branch and 

 twigs with such extraordinary fidelity that the most practised eye is often deceived, and others 

 taking not only the flat outline and half curl of fallen leaves, but even reproducing their 

 peculiar nervures and soft vegetable green with such marvellous exactness, that those who see 

 them for the first time can hardly be made to believe that they are not the objects which they 



