490 



Marvels of the Universe 



I have on more than one occasion been startled by the marvellous mimicry of certain butterflies. 

 Unfortunately they were so wary that they eluded my net, and have perhaps remained uncaptured 

 and undescribed down to the present day, since I have met with no specimens of the " Greenleaf 

 Butterfly " in any collection. These butterflies, when they closed their wings, were absolutely 

 indistinguishable, even to a sharp eye, from bright green leaves. Had it not been that they were 

 not completelj' confident of their assimilation and flew away from the twigs on my approach, I 



should never have guessed that they were 

 anything but a collection of green leaves, 

 ilost people are famihar with the butter- 

 flies and moths that resemble in almost 

 every detail the dried or dead leaf. Other 

 moths exactly simulate bark or lichen. 

 There are mantises in Central .\frica which 

 imitate to a nicety large pink flowers with 

 a green stalk and a green sheath to the 

 calyx. But perhaps the most spectacular 

 and marvellous of insects in mimicry of 

 leaves are to be found amongst the Carabid 

 Beetles ; and in a widely different group, 

 the Stick and Leaf Insects of the great 

 order Orthoptera — the same order which 

 includes the mantids, the cockroaches, ear- 

 wigs, crickets and locusts. 



The Leaf Insects in the accompanjdng 

 photographs only occur in the tropical 

 regions of Asia and the islands of the 

 Indian and Pacific Ocean. They do not 

 extend their range either to Africa proper 

 or to America, yet they are found as far 

 west as Mauritius and the Seychelles, 

 and as far east as the Fiji Islands, or 

 even (it is said) Tahiti. Curiously enough, 

 they seem to flourish particularly well on 

 islands rather than on broad continental 

 areas ; but the Leaf Insects here illus- 

 trated would probably come from Assam, 

 several species being found in India and 

 Malaysia. These remarkable creatures 

 are about an inch and three-quarters 

 long. The resemblance to a leaf is 

 perhaps more marked in the female than 

 in the male, the female having very short antennae, while these appendages of the head are 

 relatively long in the male. The chief resemblance to leaves arises from the expansions of the 

 limbs and the coverings of the wings. In the female, which is far more leaf-like than the male, 

 and is consequently much more stationary, the hind wings are not present, or, at any rate, are 

 only represented bj' a minute rudiment. The female is unable to fly. On the other hand, the 

 male of this genus has merely rudimentary front wings and large hinder wings, and is able to fly, 

 at any rate, to some extent.. The abdomen, also, in the male is not nearly so large, flattened, 

 or leaf-like as it is in^the female. - Both sexes, however, are ver}- leaf-like in their colouring ; 



Photo ht/\ 



[Hugh Jfiiin, yi..Sr., F.E.S. 

 THE LEAF INSECT. 



This Leaf Insect is a native of Seychelles. Together with the rest 

 of its family l\vhich is very abundant in Assam), it is a remarkable 

 instance of protective resemblance. Leaf Insects range across the 

 islands and continents of the Indian and Pacific Oceans from the 

 Seychelles to Fiji. 



