THE WALKING STICKS 



(Family PJiasmidce.) 



The insects of this family present some of the most striking 

 forms known among the Hexapoda. They consist of the so-called 

 "walking sticks." This name is given to them from the remark- 

 able development of protective resemblance which has brought 

 all of the species to a close imitation of the twigs of different 

 plants. The family reaches its highest development in the trop- 

 ics, but one species is common in the Northern States. The family 

 constitutes the section of Orthopterous insects known to the old 

 naturalists as Gressoria or walkers, as contrasted with the runners, 

 jumpers, and graspers (Cursoria, Saltatoria and Raptoria). The 

 body is long and slender, the head is exserted, the legs are long 

 and slender and generally similar. They generally have no wings 

 although some of the tropical species have short or long wings. 

 The eggs have a very curious structure and frequently resemble 

 seeds in appearance. They possess the power of reproducing lost 

 limbs, the new limb being weaker than the old one and generally 

 curved. Certain of the tropical forms in this family are curiously 

 modified so as to resemble leaves instead of twigs. Leaf insects 

 in the tropics frequently bear so close a resemblance to vegetation 

 as to deceive a keen observer. 



Life History of a common Walking Stick 



( ' Diapheromera femorata Say.^i- 



This is the common " walking stick " of the northern United 

 States and is distributed over the greater part of the country. It 

 has been given the popular name of the " thick-thighed walking 

 stick" owing to the fact that the femora of the middle legs are 

 somewhat swollen. The eggs, of which each female lays about 

 one hundred, are a little less than 3 mm. long, oval in shape, 



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