19 



ORTMOPTERA. 



PHYLLIUM SICCIFOLIUM. 



Plate XL fig. 1. (Pupa, fig. 2.) 

 Genus. Phylliu.v, Ittiger, Lair. Mantis, Fair. Donovan. Ptero[>us, Thunberg. 

 Species. Phyllium Siccifolium : viride ; capite, thorace, pedibusque luteo-viridibus ; 

 femoribus ovatis membrauaceis ; tibiis quatuor posticis inerrnibus ; thorace den- 

 ticulate. Long. Corp. 3| unc. 

 Phyllium : green ; with the head, thorax, and legs tinged with luteous ; the 

 femora ovate, membranaceous ; the four posterior tibire not dilated ; thorax 

 toothed at the sides. Length of the body, 3i inches. 

 Syn. Mantis siccifolia, Linn. Mus. Lud. Reg. III. Syst. Nat. 2. p. 689. Fabr. Ent. Syst. 

 -. p. 18. Donovan, 1st edition. 

 La Feuille de citron, Stoll. Spec. pi. 7, (J,?, larva et pupa (antennis ? et pupa;? 



vitiosis ) 

 Phasma citrifoliuin, Lichtenstein Trans. Soc. Linn. t. 6, p. 17 

 Phyllium (1) brevicorne, Latr. Gen. 3, p. 39, ? . (Phyllium, sect. 11, J ibid.) 

 Phyllium siccifolium, Lett. S. An. (2d edit.) 5. 179. (Edit. Crochard) Lns. Livr. I. 

 pi. I'd, fig. 1. (with details, fig, 1C, pupa maris nee imago $ ). Serville Revis. 

 Orthopt. p. 36. (Ann. Sc. Nat. 22. 63.) Gray Synopsis Phasm. p. 30. 



"An erroneous opinion lias prevailed pretty generally among naturalists 

 respecting the colour of this insect, which when living they conceived to be similar 

 to that of a dried or withered leaf. This, it may be observed, is commonly the 

 appearance of the insect after death : such was no doubt the colour of the specimens 

 delineated by Eoesel ; nor can we for a moment hesitate in believing that the insects 

 described by the accurate Linnaeus and Dr. Shaw exhibited the like appearance. 

 The specimen of the winged insect in our cabinet, has been preserved, however, with 

 more than usual care. Immediately after the death of the creature, as we have 

 reason to suspect, the abdomen had been opened, and so nicely excavated that no 

 portion of the entrails, or oily fluids, which would have inevitably destroyed the 

 true colour, was allowed to remain. The natural colour is therefore preserved, 

 which is not of a pale brown, as is commonly imagined, but of a delicate, lovely 

 green ; a colour dependant, it appears, upon a thin internal coating immediately 

 beneath the outer skin, the latter of which is perfectly transparent, and destitute of 

 any colour. 



" The pupa of this curious species is represented, together with the perfect insect, 

 on the Vinca rosea. 



" There is also a much smaller pupa depicted in the upper part of the plate, that 

 was discovered in one of the islands of the Indian seas, and belonged to the cele- 

 brated Mr. Bailey, the astronomer who sailed in one of the expeditions with Captain 



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