272 ORTHOPTERA 



the first time a section of this capsule, would declare that he is 

 looking at a vegetable preparation." 



AVe may remark that, although there is difference of opinion 

 on the point, the evidence extant goes to show that the egg- 

 capsules are formed in the egg-tubes, only one egg being pro- 

 duced at a time in a tube,i the others in it remaining quite 

 rudimentary. 



About 600 species of the family are known ; there are only 

 four or five kinds found in Europe, and they are all confined to 

 the south, only one of them extending as far north as Central 

 France. The males of these European Bacilli are extremely rare 

 in comparison with the females, which are common Insects. 

 Phasmidae are of almost universal distribution in the warm parts 

 of the world, and even the species whose individuals are of large 

 size seem to be able to continue their existence in comparatively 

 small islands. Australia is perhaps the region where they are 

 most largely developed at present. Macleay says of Fodacanthus 

 wiUdnsoni that it is rare in any part of Australia to find in the 

 summer season a gum-tree without a few of these Insects grazing 

 on it ; and occasionally this Insect has been so abundant there 

 that the trees for miles around have been denuded of their foliage 

 Ijy it, and the dead and dying Insects have been found lying 

 beneath the trees almost in heaps. There are several Phasmidae 

 in Xew Zealand, all wingless forms, and different from those 

 found in Australia. In Brazil a species of the genus Prisop^ts 

 has the peculiar habit of seeking shelter under the stones sub- 

 merged in the mountain streams ; to enable it to do this it is 

 remarkably constructed, the under side of the body being hollowed, 

 and various parts set with a dense fringe of hairs ; the Insect is 

 supposed to expel the air from the body in order to adhere to the 

 upper surface of a stone, where it sits with its fore legs extended 

 in front of its head, which is directed against the current. At- 

 tention has been called to a still more remarkable form said to 

 be allied to the Prisopi, by Wood-Mason,^ who calls the Insect 

 Cotylosoma clipneusticum. This Insect is apparently known only 

 by a single example of the female sex ; it is 3 or 4 inches in 

 length, has rudimentary organs of flight, and along the lower 

 margins of the metathorax there are said to be on each side five 



1 Laboulbene, Bull. Soc. ent. France, 185", p. cxxxvi.,and Henneguy as above. 

 - Ann. Nat. Hist. (5) i. 1878, p. 101. 



